While the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, we should not forget that his kingdom should first dwell within us.
Jesus’ kingdom is not one that has physical boundaries or exists in a political sense. It is a spiritual kingdom that already exists in our souls. The key is letting God reign over us and serving him in our lives.
In theOffice of Readings there is an excerpt from a discourse of Origen on prayer that gets to the heart of this reality.
The coming of the kingdom of God, says our Lord and Savior, does not admit of observation, and there will be no-one to say “Look here! Look there!” For the kingdom of God is within us and in our hearts. And so it is beyond doubt that whoever prays for the coming of the kingdom of God within himself is praying rightly, praying for the kingdom to dawn in him, bear fruit and reach perfection. For God reigns in every saint, and every saint obeys God’s spiritual laws — God, who dwells in him just as he dwells in any well-ordered city.
The saints understood this reality and were servants of the King by letting him reign over their hearts.
How can we let God reign in our heart? Root out sin in your life and be a “faithful servant,” as Jesus urged his disciples.
So if we want God to reign within us, on no account may sin rule in our mortal body but let us mortify our earthly bodies and let us be made fruitful by the Spirit. Then we will be a spiritual garden of Eden for God to walk in. God will rule in us with Christ who will be seated in us on the right hand of God — God, the spiritual power that we pray to receive — until he makes his enemies (who are within us) into his footstool and pours out on us all authority, all power, all strength.
God’s kingdom is already here. We just have to recognize that and let God be King, not only of the universe, but first of all of our soul.
Read more:
Why Christ the King was originally celebrated in October
Read more:
Why do we say that “Christ is King”?
