November 23, 2025

The Feast of Christ the King

Deacon Nelson Abreu

This Thursday is Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving is the busiest travel holiday of the entire year. This year, triple AAA expects about 82 million Americans to be traveling. For many families, that means Grandmom and Grandpop are on their way, or maybe Aunt Edna and Uncle Joe too—along with all your cousins.
 
Suddenly your house goes into panic mode.
 
Kids' beds get moved, air mattresses appear out of nowhere, and the visitors all get placed in the spot we’ve prepared for them:
  The guest room – in Our house.
 
But here’s the real question we are asked to think about today:
 When we invite Jesus to enter “our house,” do we put Him in the guest room too?
Because if Jesus truly is our King, then your house isn’t yours at all—It is His. In fact, if  Jesus is King of the universe, our King, nothing we have is ours—Everything is His, including us.
 
A priest once told me during RCIA, “If God stopped thinking about you for one second—you become vapor.” Everything exists because God wills it.
 
Today we celebrate Christ the King—a feast the Church given to us back in 1925. And yes, even 100 years ago people struggled with the same thing we struggle with today: letting Jesus actually be King, not just someone we call when life hits the fan.
 
Fr. Larry Richards once said, “Everyone wants Jesus to be their Savior. Fewer want Him to be their King.”  And he’s right. We love a Savior who comforts, rescues, and fixes our problems—But a King? A King who might rearrange our priorities, challenge our habits, change our lives, make us give up control? That’s where we most of us start running and looking for the emergency exit.  
 
In today’s Gospel we see this tension clearly. Two criminals hang next to Jesus. One wants a Savior—“Save me! Get me off this cross!”—but he doesn’t want a King. No repentance, no responsibility, no change. He wants Jesus to do all the work.
 
The other criminal approached Jesus with respect and humility. He admitted his sins, felt genuine sorrow for them, and placed his present and future in Jesus’ hands. By doing that, he recognized Jesus as his King first, and then asked Him to be his Savior.
 
But what is a King? The Jewish people were expecting a king as they understood a king to be—mighty, who had great riches and power, with large armies to dominate all who stood in his way.
 
Yet Jesus reigns not from a golden throne, but from His throne on the cross. 

And because Christ is King, we are part of His kingdom—not someday, but right now. His kingdom appears in everyday choices we make:

• • when we forgive someone who hurt us
•  • when we help someone who cannot repay us
•  • when we choose to love over “winning” an argument - this one very hard for most men
•  • when we show up for the lonely, the overwhelmed, or the hopeless
•  • when we trust God even when life feels impossible

This is where Christ reigns.
 
Pope Leo once said, “God loves us. God loves you. Evil will not prevail. We are all in God’s hands.” 
 
If Christ is truly our King, then we are never alone and always held in His loving arms.
 
So today, as we honor Christ the King, I invite you to pray three simple prayers:

1. “Jesus, be the King of my heart.”
    Reign where I’m anxious, afraid, or holding back.
2. “Jesus, be the King of my actions.”
    Help me serve, love, and forgive like You.
3. “Jesus, be the King of my life.”
    Lead me, guide me, and help me to trust Your plan.

Because when we let Christ reign—even in small ways—His kingdom enters the world through us:  through our love, our courage, and our faith in a King who saves not by force, but by sacrifice.
 
Christ the King is not far away on a cloud waiting for us to “get our act together.” He wants to reign in every part of our life—even the parts we hide in the “guest room” of our souls and only tidy up when company is coming.
 
So ask yourself today:

• If Jesus were fully King of my life, how would my life be different?
• What would I hand over to Him?
• What room in my heart still needs its “No Vacancy” sign removed?

 
Today, let us accept Jesus as both our Savior and our King—and trust that everything He asks from us is so He can give us something far greater in return: peace, mercy, joy, and eternal life.
 
May Christ the King bless you all today and always.
 
Amen.