English Español Mary Immaculate
Catholic Church / Pacoima, CA

In Christ Love and Power Unite

Feast of Christ the King

Dear brothers and sisters, receive the fraternal and friendly greeting in the hope that this simple reflection helps us to identify more with the person of Jesus Christ.

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jesus-pantocrator
Jesus Christ Pantocrator (Detail from deesis mosaic) from Hagia Sophia

We can say that at this event we are blessing, praising, thanking the power of Jesus Christ. Jesus told his apostles, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Mt. 28:18. Jesus Christ is the mighty, and powerful. But what is so wonderful about this feast? That power is not separate from love. Because the great tragedy that the world is suffering s that love is separated from power. There’s no point to have powerless love, there’s no point to have love without power. . What we need is a power that has love, what we need is a love that has power.

What is a powerless love? It is what only leaves good intentions, good feelings. We have good sentiments, we love kids, but what good is a powerless love? If that love does not translate in actions, in institutions, in new families; if it is not translate into education and affective education in managing our time and money, our love is impotent and a powerless love leaves a trail of corpses. A powerless love is useless!

However, a power without love is even worse. Power without love means apprehension, missing, torture, kidnappings, killings. What type of heart does it take to kidnap someone? When a person kidnaps a person and knows that there is a family in tears of anger, pain, fear, and still it does not matter. When the tears of the poor don’t matter, when the feelings of the helpless don’t matter there is the face of a power without love. You do not know which is worse, the helpless love, love without power or power without love. Love without power is the complicity when so many people let the world rot. Power without love is the accurst fire that destroys nations, which tears down the innocent and young at the altars of egotism.

But Jesus Christ is not love without power or power without love. In Jesus Christ; beautiful, shepherd joins the love and power. He is the loving shepherd, He is the only judge. Let’s put those two words: Judge, that sounds like power; Shepherd that sounds like love. Jesus Christ is both, power that knows love, love that has the power in us. Rejoice at this feast and lets learn the model of Christ. God bless you!

Living God’s Word

In his first letter to the Thessalonian community Saint Paul says that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2). If, however, we pick it up and run with it at that point, perhaps something new can be born in us.

Readings for the Week

Monday: Rv 14:1-3, 4b-5; Ps 24:1bc-4ab, 5-6; Lk 21:1-4
Tuesday: Rv 14:14-19; Ps 96:10-13; Lk 21:5-11
Wednesday: Rv 15:1-4; Ps 98:1-3ab, 7-9; Lk 21:12-19
Thursday:

  • Rv 18:1-2, 21-23; 19:1-3, 9a; Ps 100:1b-5; Lk 21:20-28 or
  • Thanksgiving Day: Sir 50:22-24; Ps 145:2-11; 1 Cor 1:3-9; Lk 17:11-19

Friday: Rv 20:1-4, 11 — 21:2; Ps 84:3-6a, 8a; Lk 21:29-33
Saturday: Rv 22:1-7; Ps 95:1-7ab; Lk 21:34-36
Sunday: Is 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7; Ps 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19; 1 Cor 1:3-9; Mk 13:33-37

“One act of thanksgiving, when things go wrong with us, is worth a thousand thanks when things are agreeable to our inclinations.” — Saint John of Ávila

Saints & Special Observances

Sunday: Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
Monday: Thirty-fourth or Last Week in Ordinary Time; St. Andrew Dũng-Lạc and Companions
Tuesday: St. Catherine of Alexandria
Thursday: Thanksgiving Day
Saturday: Blessed Virgin Mary

“The best way to show my gratitude to God is to accept everything, even my problems, with joy.” — Mother Teresa

Treasures from Our Tradition

Coming to the end of the Church year, we can wonder how we got “extreme unction” out of “anointing of the sick.” “Extreme” comes from a Latin phrase, in extremis, which refers to the last struggle of a dying person. “Last rites” is a phrase in common usage, and refers to the fact that years ago everyone waited until the last crisis of illness to summon the priest. The goal of anointing had always been healing and forgiveness, but in time it began to be seen as a preparation for death. In a hard world, almost anything from a hangnail to a sneeze could be life-threatening, so perhaps the change was inevitable. The emphasis on the penitential aspects was heightened, even to the odd practice of Rome in the twelfth century, when the sick person was sprinkled with ashes mixed with holy water and given a hair shirt as a sign of penance. The reformers thankfully overlooked some of these oddities of history, and today the sacrament of the sick is much more generously applied to persons in a wide range of situations. Still, it is a sacrament of reconciliation, and for that reason is not celebrated for an infant or toddler, although there is a rite for a visit to a sick child not including anointing or Communion.

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