CHRIST THE KING IN THE ICU

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CHRIST THE KING IN THE HOSPICE UNIT

The other day I visited a cousin in the ICU of a big hospital. As I made my way down the long hospital corridor that was filled with the mystery of suffering and illness and fear, I began thinking about the "last things" that the church has been inviting us to reflect on lately: Our own deaths, the end of the world, and Christ's return in glory.  So it seems fitting that we should end the church year with the celebration of the solemnity of Christ the King.

On December 11, 1925 Pope Pius XI instituted the "feast of our Lord Jesus Christ, the King." Far from being a strange anachronism (kings and queens were pretty well out of date by the 1920s), the new feast was meant to renew in us modern Catholics an appreciation of very ancient notion: Christ as the divine King who, enthroned at the right hand of the Father, will return at the end of time to establish God's final victory. From the earliest days of the Church, art and liturgical texts have constantly depicted Christ as a king, sometimes seated on a throne, sometimes reigning gloriously from the cross while crowned and vested in priestly robes. This ancient image of Christ as the Ruler of the Universe is authentic and theologically sound, and well worth reflecting on over and over.

Does this crazy, pain-filled world of ours have any meaning or is it just a chaotic and absurd jumble of events, many of them horrible? Look to Christ the King.

Is there anyone ultimately in charge of my life, your life or the life of my dying relative? Look to Christ the King.

Can the suffering in the world eventually turn out to be something other than cruel absurdity? Look to Christ the King.
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...Mid-fourth-century sarcophagus with scenes of Christ's Passion,
...with the cross in the center like the standard of a victorious king

A SUFFERER'S MEDITATION
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Here is a meditation by the great Saint John Chrysostom (the "Golden-mouthed"), patriarch of Constantinople. His courageous defense of the Church's doctrines and his efforts to reform the court, clergy and people merited him a life of constant suffering and persecution. Exiled by the empress Eudoxia in 404, he died from the hardships this ordeal imposed on him. Because John Chrysostom was a man intimately acquainted both with kings, kingdoms and suffering, the following excerpt from his homily "The Thief and the Cross" still has a ring of authenticity:
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“Lord, remember me in your kingdom.” Not before he had laid aside the burden of his sins by confessing them did the thief dare to say the words “Remember me in your kingdom.” Do you not see the value of that confession? It opened paradise! It gave the former brigand the confidence to seek admission to the kingdom!

That the cross brings us untold blessings is surely obvious. Have you set your heart upon a kingdom? Then tell me, can you see any such thing? All that meets the eye are nails and a cross, and yet this very cross, Christ says, is the symbol of the kingdom. I proclaim him king, therefore, because I see him crucified, for it becomes a king to die for his subjects. He himself said that “the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep,” and so the good king too lays down his life for his subjects. Christ laid down his life, and that is why I proclaim him king: “Lord, remember me in your kingdom.”
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Do you not see, then, how the cross symbolizes the kingdom? If you desire further proof, it lies in the fact that the cross did not leave Christ earthbound, but lifted him up and carried him back to heaven. We know this because at his glorious second coming the cross will be with him. He called it his glory to teach you how sacred it is. “When the Son of Man comes, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light” Such a blaze of light will there be that even the brightest stars will be eclipsed. “Then the stars will fall, and the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven.” So you see the power of the sign of the cross!

When a king is entering a city, his soldiers take up their standards, and, carrying them aloft across their shoulders, go before him to announce his coming. So also shall the armies of angels and archangels precede the Lord when he comes from heaven. Bearing his sign on their shoulders, they will proclaim the coming of the King. (De cruce et latrone 1, 3-4: PG 49, 403-404.),.
It is comforting to know that suffering is not just an incidental side-issue but a central and sanctified part of the Kingdom. The glory of the Kingdom will indeed come, but for now as John Chrysostom says, "all that meets the eye are nails and a cross." That's certainly all that I've been seeing in the Hospice Unit of Beth Israel Hospital.. .....
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... ..........Christ in Glory, Santa Costanza, Rome, ca. 350