The Feast of Christ the King

Thoughts for the Week - Fr. R. Taouk 
27th October 2019

 The Kingship of Christ in its Integrity
by Rev. Fr. Denis Fahey C.S.Sp.

The divine plan for order in our fallen and redeemed world comprises, primarily, the supernatural social organism of the Catholic Church, and then, secondarily, the temporal or natural social order resulting from the influence of Catholic doctrine on politics and economics and from the embodiment of that influence in social institutions. From the birth of the Catholic Church on Calvary and the solemn promulgation of her mission at the first Pentecost, the Kingdom of God in its essence has been present in the world. As a result of the gradual acceptance of the role of the Church by the temporal representatives of Christ the King, the social institutions of states and nations became deeply permeated with the influence of the supernatural life of Christ. Then, and only then, could the Kingdom of God in its integrity or the Rule of Christ the King in its integrity, be said to exist.  Christ fully reigns only when the programme for which He died is accepted as the one true way to peace and order in the world, and social structures in harmony with it are evolved.

The Kingdom of God in its essence is always with us, but the influence of the Church on politics and economics, in other words, the extension of the Kingdom of God in its integrity, has varied with the centuries. Broadly speaking, the 13th century has been, so far, the high-water mark of that influence. Since then, until recently, there has been steady decay. No particular temporal social order, of course, will ever realise all that the Church is capable of giving to the world. Each of them will be defective for several reasons. First of all, the action of the Church, welcomed by some Catholics, will be opposed by the ignorance, incapacity and perversity of others. Secondly, even if all Catholics did accept fully, they could only reflect some of the beauty of the Gospel as the Saints reflected some of the infinitely imitable holiness of Christ.

Thirdly, there would still remain the vast number of non-Catholics to be won for Christ and have their social life organised under His rule. It is towards this latter goal that every generation of Catholics is called upon to work. The aim is to impregnate a new epoch with the divine principles of order so firmly grasped in the 13th century. The result of the so-called Reformation and the French Revolution has been to obscure the rights of God proclaimed by Our Lord Jesus Christ and to diffuse naturalism. Naturalism consists in the negation of the possibility of the elevation of our nature to the supernatural life and order, or more radically still, in the negation of the very existence of that life and order. Naturalism may be defined therefore as the attitude of mind which denies the reality of the divine life of grace and of our Fall there from by original sin. It rejects our consequent liability to revolt against the order of the divine life, when this life has been restored to us by our membership of Christ, and maintains that all social life should be organised on the basis of that denial. We must combat that mentality and proclaim the rights of God.