In today’s Gospel reading, there is an exchange between Pilate and Jesus that struck me as interesting. Pilate asks Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus replies with His own question, “Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?”

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Christ the King. It is a fitting end our the liturgical calendar, for each liturgical year is a journey of discipleship with the final goal of that journey being our entering into the Kingdom of God, with Christ as our King. It is the playing out of the Harvest Principle in our life of Faith. During the liturgical year, we are called to plant the seeds of faith. 

We do that through prayer, through spending time with Jesus, especially in His Word in the Bible. We can also spend time with Jesus in our Adoration Chapel, where as St. John Vianney put it so well, “I look and Him, and He looks at me.” 

Of course, we plant the seeds of faith by coming to Mass each weekend. Not only do we hear God’s word proclaimed, and receive the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus in the Eucharist, but we come together as a community to form the Mystical Body of Christ, present here in our local community of Delran and Riverside.

We plant the seeds of faith through our actions, especially by practicing the Works of Mercy. The Corporal Works of Mercy concern the material needs of others: to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to cloth the naked, to shelter the homeless, to visit the sick, to visit the imprisoned or ransom the captive, and to bury the dead. Our St. Vincent de Paul Conference actively addresses many of these Corporal Works of Mercy. Visiting their “guests” they help determine what their material needs are: maybe providing food cards to make sure there is food and drink for a family, maybe it is helping to pay the rent, mortgage, or utilities so that a “guest” does not become homeless. Each year our young women and men preparing for Confirmation run a coat drive to “cloth the naked,” or at least to make sure that they have something warm to wear as winter approaches. Our parish as a dedicated group of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion who visit close to a 100 of our brothers and sisters who cannot come to Mass on the weekend because of their age or because they are ill. They do so much more than just bring them Jesus in the Eucharist; they all spend time with the people they visit, making sure that they feel part of our community of faith, while some of them even help arrange necessary trips to the doctors or just to get a hair cut. Deacon Dan goes to both the Federal Prison at Ft. Dix, and to the ward at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital. He and is wife Barbara, with Norm, take such loving care of the families who have lost a loved one; helping them plan the funeral.

The aim of the Spiritual Works of Mercy is to relieve spiritual suffering: to instruct the ignorant, to counsel the doubtful, to admonish the sinners, to bear patiently those who wrong us, to forgive offenses, to comfort the afflicted, to pray for the living and the dead. Of course the most obvious means by which we “instruct the ignorant” (OK, I admit, that sounds rough) is through our Religious Education Program. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful parishioners who volunteer to help Rich Scanlon, our Director of Evangelization & Discipleship Formation, and we have seen such positive results from the new curriculum that we implemented last year. From less than 20% of our students reaching the “average” range on their knowledge of the Faith, now we have 20% in the “outstanding” range and another 70% in the “average” range. Plus Rich has offered several Bible Studies for adults in the parish. The many Adorers in our Perpetual Adoration Chapel quickly respond with prayers to those who are in need, and send out cards to let them know that they are being prayed for.

Of course, we have to take responsibility for planting the seeds of virtues in our own lives. If we keep putting off until “tomorrow” to plant the seeds of discipleship and the Kingdom of God, at the harvest time, we might find ourself seriously wanting in grace.

So while all of us here are celebrating the Solemnity of Christ the King, Jesus’ question to Pilate is just as fitting for us: Do we believe that Jesus is our King on our own, or only because others have told us? In other words, have we personally accepted Jesus Christ as our King, who rules over our entire life, or are they just words that we say because we were raised as Catholic? We might have been born into a Catholic family, but it is up to us to take up the mantle of discipleship, to pick up our cross and follow Jesus wherever He leads us. We will reap what we sow in our spiritual lives.

Let Christ the King reign forever and supremely in your hearts.