A King and Bones

With the Solemnity of Christ the King, the Church marks an end to another Liturgical cycle and we close this Year of Faith, begun last October.

From a pastoral perspective, I would have loved to have done more at the parish, marking this great opportunity to reignite and incite the faith of the good people of my parish whom I lovingly serve. But, as I'm finding out in the infancy of this priesthood, expectations and plans are often not easily put into practice as anticipated or hoped. I pray that whatever we did do at the parish, it was seeds planted in the hearts of the faithful and will one day bud and blossom according to the will of the Father.

From a personal perspective, I was truly excited this year and am conscious of much spiritual growth and a widening of my identity as a priest.

I had the opportunity to go the Rome last December/January. While there, I had the opportunity to say a prayer before the bones of Peter, our first pope and Holy Father, and prayed the liturgy with Benedict, his 265 successor.

Then with the abdication of the Chair of Peter and the election of Francis...what can I add about that!

In the midst of those intense 'Petrine' months of going on pilgrimage to Rome and the events that unfolded in February and March with a new Holy Father, the reality of what it means to have a successor of Peter really struck me in a new way.

I don't know if Benedict planned his resignation in accord with the Year of Faith, but it was certainly a magnificent opportunity to reaffirm ourselves in our Catholic identity and the Faith we wholeheartedly  profess at every Sunday liturgy! This year, we not only had the mandate of the Church to fan the flames of faith, but we were also shown what it means to be a Church rooted in the Vicar of Christ.

This morning in Rome, the Holy Father celebrated a liturgy that closed this Year of Faith and celebrating the Solemnity of Christ the King. For the first time ever, the bones of our first Holy Father, Peter, were exposed and venerated.

I had heard this was going to happen, but didn't really know how they were going to do it or pull it off. I  immediately went to the internet after I celebrated the liturgy this morning and found one of the most profound and beautiful images (aside from the Mass) I think we will ever see as Catholics.





I admit, I started to tear when I saw this. Francis, the 266th successor of Peter, cradles the bones of his ultimate predecessor. We have never seen anything like it nor probably ever will again in our lifetime. This beautiful video of Francis holding Peter during the Credo, the creed, is what the Year of Faith is all about.

As we celebrate our King today, Christ the Logos, we profess our faith in His reality and existence and what He has done for us. Christ showed us that to be a true king, we must wear a crown, not of gold and jewels, but of thorns; to be a king, our throne is the cross, not an ornately upholstered cathedra. This King gave everyone and everything life and is the reason for every beat of every heart. Everything 'is' because this king allows it!

Aside from the fact he created everything and has brought everything to be by His Word, our King also left us shepherds of His earthly Kingdom, the Church. "Whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you lose of Earth will be loosed in Heaven". "I give you the keys to the Kingdom".

Our King said these things and did these things! These words are what gives the Church authority on Earth, and it is by these words that the Earth - the Church - has been given 266 Popes to guard, govern and lead us into the eternal mysteries of Heaven and to be a father to us who seek eternal life. How glorious and magnificent is this reality and truth!

No other religion, idea, philosophy, person, party, government, organization or creed has this kind of prominence and progeny that we see in the Church - the Kingdom of God!

Our King is real. He is here to stay. Nothing can defeat Him. No one can begin to replace Him. The devil is a speck compared to Him. With Him, we have victory!

As this Year of Faith comes to a close, we realize that we are part of something so fantastic so remarkable so mysterious that no word of mine can ever begin to sum it. We are members of a Kingdom that extends to eternity. We are baptized into this Church as Priest, Prophet, King, to imitate our Lord Jesus in His sacrificial love.

In addition to all that, as if that weren't enough, we were reassured today that we still have Peter! After two millennia of persecution, trials and martyrdom, we have had two millennia of evangelization, discipleship and liturgy that has allowed us to be witness to what we saw today! Nothing else matters! No other trivial criticism of the Church can ever usurp the reality that "We have Peter"!

Credo! Amen! I believe!