Christ, the Remedy to Sin

The Sunday before Advent is considered the last Sunday of the Church calendar year. In 1933, Pope Benedict XV proclaimed this day the Solemnity of Christ, the King. He did this because He saw how desperately the world needed Christ because so much evil had permeated Europe and America. There was the First World War with the development of new weapons and airplanes to kill many people and cause vast destruction of property. Then, there was the Great Depression which led many to despair and deprived people of even basic necessities of life for themselves and their families. Yes, the remedy for this was Christ. He is the One who overcame evil, and He gives us this power. By recognizing Him as King, the Pope was saying that He must be central to our lives. Then there is hope instead of despair, peace instead of war, respect instead of exploitation, love instead of hate. 

Don’t we need Christ as our King today? There is much despair because of sin. Sin leads to more sin. With unforgiven sin there can be no progress. There is a devolution, a becoming more and more selfish, sort of like Sméagol in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. For instance, over the last several decades divorce became more and more accepted in spite of the harm it causes to the family, especially kids. Then, cohabitation went from disapproval to approval. Next, society acquiesced to homosexual relationships. Now, toleration has morphed into blessing such relationships. Moreover, there is the abuse of those who are weak, especially children. People even abuse themselves by treating themselves as objects, not as persons with dignity. There are many more things that are just not right, and each of us could go on and on listing them. 

Again, Christ is the answer. First, though, we have to know Who Christ is. Many have misconceptions about Him. He is not the fuzzy, warm approver of everything as long as there is love. He is not the condemner of everything that I disagree with. To know Him, we should read the New Testament regularly, and also read The Catechism of the Catholic Church. We find out more about Him by going on line to ewtn.com or to EWTN on TV.

This is why our Pope Benedict, Benedict XVI, has promulgated the Year of Faith which continues until the Solemnity of Christ, the King next year, November 24, 2013. People are hungry for Christ. We can satisfy this hunger by sharing our knowledge of Him with them, by showing them He is our King. 

Father Stanley