Christ the King and Merriment -- Part I

"I have said that St. Francis deliberately did not see the wood for the trees. It is even more true that he deliberately did not see the mob for the men. What distinguishes this very genuine democrat from any mere demagogue is that he neither either deceived or was deceived by the illusion of mass-suggestion. Whatever his taste in monsters, he never saw before him a many-headed beast. He only saw the image of God multiplied but never monotonous. He honoured all men; that is, he not only loved but respected them all." ------ G.K. Chesterton in St. Francis of Assisi


The greatest social reform you probably never heard of, perhaps the greatest social reform ever, was directly due to the beneficent reign of Christ the King, whose feast is the grand finale to the Catholic liturgical calendar, celebrated this year on November 26. This great social reform, all-but-miraculous, was the abolition of slavery in the land of Christendom; the tale is told by Chesterton: how the slave found love and respect, dignity and freedom, in Europe, as he progressed from servant to serf to farmer. The slave emerged as a man, and a man not only possessing the hope of heaven, but also owning a parcel of land in the here-and-now...his own piece of the land of Christendom, blessed by the reign of God, blessed by the Son of God.

"At the beginning of the Dark Ages the great pagan cosmopolitan society now grown Christian was as much a slave state as old South Carolina," wrote Chesterton, in A Short History of England (1917). "By the fourteenth century it was almost as much a state of peasant proprietors as modern France. No laws had been passed against slavery; no dogmas even had condemned it by definition; no war had been waged against it, no new race or ruling caste had repudiated it; but it was gone."

A little further on in this chapter, which is appropriately entitled, "The Meaning of Merry England," Chesterton writes a line of great wonder, which not only explains the inspiration for the emancipation, but also is essential to the understanding of merriment, that great characteristic of Christendom, which in our day has mostly been dissipated, if not perverted: "The Catholic type of Christianity was not merely an element, it was a climate; and in that climate the slave would not grow."

This line was the inspiration for a short essay I wrote as part of my application to the graduate theology school of Christendom College (Notre Dame Graduate School), an essay titled, Theology and the Catholic Climate, which begins: "With a nod to Chesterton, I believe that Catholicism is a climate, and the best of climates for holiness and happiness, conducive to liberty and community, dignity and humility, productivity and festivity."

This is the climate inspired by Christ the King, and the first fruit of this climate, a fruit personified by people like St. Francis of Assisi, a hero of the land of Christendom, is that all men are created equal, each of us unrepeatable and irreplaceable, worthy of genuine love and respect. In the heart of Christ Jesus, there is no distinction in worth between Jew and Gentile, man and woman, free and slave (cf.Gal 3:23-29) -- nor between white and black, management and labor, born or unborn. There are no mistakes or accidents, no throwaways or disposables, no rejects or recalls. Each and every one of us is a special somebody, a priceless treasure, loved by Jesus immeasurably and intimately. "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.... I have loved you with an everlasting love...." (Jer1:5,31:3)

This King does not call us servants, but friends, and he lays down his life for his friends. He never gives up on us, either, no matter how sinful we might be or how useless we might feel. Indeed, his mercies never come to an end. As St. Therese wrote, in Story of a Soul, "I repeat, full of confidence, the publican's humble prayer. Most of all I imitate the conduct of Magdalene; her astonishing or rather her loving audacity which charms the heart of Jesus also attracts my own. Yes, I feel it; even though I had on my conscience all the sins that can be committed, I would go, my heart broken with sorrow, and throw myself into Jesus' arms, for I know how much he loves the prodigal child who returns to Him." (cf.Lk15:11-32)

Again to borrow from Chesterton: Christ the King, the Everlasting Man, is also the Everyman, the New Man, the Second Adam. There is a "great paradox," wrote Chesterton, "by which he spoke of his whole humanity as in some way collectively and representatively human; calling himself simply the Son of Man; that is, in effect, calling himself simply Man." Pope Benedict XVI writes, in his encyclical letter, God is Love, of the description given by Christ the King of the Last Judgement -- "in which love becomes the criterion for the definitive decision about a human life's worth or lack thereof. Jesus identifies himself with those in need, with the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and those in prison. 'As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me' (Mt 25:40). Love of God and love of neighbor have become one: in the least of the brethren we find Jesus himself, and in Jesus we find God."(#15)

Christ the King is also the Good Samaritan (Lk10:25-37), and he calls each of us to go and do the same. According to the pope, in this parable Jesus is teaching that the meaning of "neighbor" is no longer restricted to the people of one's country or one's community. "The limit is now abolished," writes Benedict. "Anyone who needs me, and whom I can help, is my neighbor. The concept of 'neighbor' is now universalized, yet it remains concrete. Despite being extended to all mankind it is not reduced to a generic, abstract, and undemanding expression of love, but calls for my own practical commitment here and now."

Before the days of Christ the King, the individual counted for very little, if anything, in the eyes of the pagan king, according to Chesterton, and for that matter, counted for very little in the eyes of the pagan democrat. In The Everlasting Man, he writes of the significance of "the dark giant called Slavery" that cast such a long, bleak shadow in the ancient world: "It stands for one fundamental fact about all antiquity before Christ; something to be assumed from first to last. It is the insignificance of the individual before the State. It was as true of the most democratic City State in Hellas as of any despotism in Babylon. It is one of the signs of this spirit that a whole class of individuals could be insignificant or even invisible."

Christ the King inaugurates a much different reign: "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them.... But I am among you as one who serves."(Lk:22:25-27) Not one of us is invisible, or even insignificant: "Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered."(Lk12:7) Our King, Our God, is also our most affectionate friend. "Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear my voice, and open to me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."(Rev3:20)

(In Part II: Christ the King and the Declaration of Independence. Christ the King is not only compatible with the liberties we cherish as Americans, he is necessary for those liberties to be given their fullest meaning and to endure in their purity and goodness. Our allegiance to America is not compromised by our allegiance to Christ the King, rather it is enhanced. God bless America!)