Opening Prayer Series: Feast of Christ the King

 OPENING PRAYER SERIES

THE MASS OPENING PRAYER SERIES ICON.

OPENING PRAYER

The Opening Prayer for the Feast of Christ the King reads as follows:

Let us pray

(that all men will acclaim Jesus as Lord)

Almighty and merciful God,

You break the power of evil 

and make all things new

in Your Son Jesus Christ, the King of the universe.

May all in Heaven and earth acclaim Your glory

and never cease to praise You.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

In making this prayer tangible, the following reflection questions emerged:

1.            Why is it important that all men acclaim Jesus as Lord?

2.            How will I acclaim Jesus as Lord in my life this coming week?

3.            How does God break the power of evil in my life?

4.            How does God make things new in my life?

5.            How do I praise God unceasingly in my life this coming week?

6.     =    In this last week of the liturgical year, will I commit to a review of my spiritual
         life?

          7.        What decision will I make towards increased spiritual growth for the new liturgical
                 year?

GOSPEL REFLECTION

Today's gospel is a timely reminder on this Feast of Christ the King as to what type of King Jesus is-King of sinners, and King of our salvation. Here we meet our Saviour, in His last agony, being stared at by the people before the Cross, being jeered at by the leaders, mocked at by the soldiers, (who even offered Him vinegar to drink), abused by the first criminal and petitioned by the good thief.  Notice how Jesus does not respond to His persecutors, but answers the good thief:  'Indeed I promise you, today you will be with me in paradise'.

At times in our lives we can behave like

·                    the people who stared, 

·                     the leaders who jeered,

·                     the soldiers who mocked 

·                    the other thief who abused Jesus. 

·                    the good thief who looked into the eyes of Jesus and asked for what we most 

            need.

Perhaps we have stared at the cross when we have prayed for something or someone and seemingly our prayer was not answered. Perhaps we may have jeered with 'God never answers my prayers' or 'God does what He likes anyway' or perhaps we have mocked our Saviour by our lack of commitment and luke-warm attitude to our faith or in some other form.  We can ask our Saviour to save us from these behaviours and repent of our ways. Perhaps though, we can also behave like the good thief who wanted Jesus to remember Him in His kingdom. Like the good thief, we too can be blown away by the response Jesus gives, since Jesus always gives more that what we ask.

During this last week of the liturgical year, let us try and spend some quality time with Jesus before the cross, sand contemplate our Saviour, our King.  Let us try to live by the gospel, so that Jesus will say to us, in our last agony, as He brings us to His Kingdom ' today you will be me in paradise'.