We are already at the final Sunday of our liturgical year 2015. This Sunday is the Solemnity of Christ the King. In many parishes at Mass we will sing, “Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne.”

The Mass will bring us to celebrate not just an image, but a reality. Jesus is King. Heaven is His Father’s kingdom. And we are subjects of that King.

It is an act of faith to accept Jesus as our King. It means that we believe that He has the power of King over all of creation, over all that is visible and invisible, over this world and the next.

It means as well that we believe that Jesus has the authority of a King to give commands and to rule. And finally it means that we are His subjects because by His very nature, He is King over us.

In our society, there are very different views of power that we encounter daily. But they are all earthly power. For example, to some, true power belongs only to individuals who can say and do whatever they want, as long as no one is obviously harmed. In that understanding, the only power that counts is for each individual to be unrestrained in his or her wants and actions.

From another perspective, power is only collective. True power is then the coercive authority of the state or society to determine what is right and wrong, to control resources, forcing its continuous expansion over individuals, families and even consciences in an effort to bring about an earthly view of a collective good.

Faith in Jesus Christ and His kingship gives a comforting corrective to these errors of our time. It recognizes that only in Him resides the power to create the world from nothing, to keep it in life and in motion, to heal its wounds brought about through sin, and to bring us to salvation in the true kingdom.

To be authentic, any individual freedom to choose, any efforts of society or state to better the world, must be carried out in deference to the power of the true King.

With His power comes the rightful authority of the King. Most especially, it is the nature of that King to establish law, what is good and evil, even truth itself. He who has the power to establish and sustain this world knows also how it is intended to work, to relate to Him, to reflect His goodness.

Finally, that King has the right to our acceptance of who and what He is. Because we are in truth subjects of this King, we only develop as we should, we only understand ourselves and this world without distortion, if we see that all is subject to Christ the King. Every element of our moral lives and our daily activities must seek its foundation in that King.

It is the damage of the original sin that infects our souls and even creation itself that causes us to struggle to accept Jesus as King.

Wounded human nature loses sight of the joy of trusting in, and benefitting from, the power of Jesus the King. Human nature struggles to see that this is the only way to our fulfillment.

Instead, we are tempted to trust ourselves and to doubt the power and love for us by our King.

Too often we forget that we are pilgrims. When that happens we settle just for what this life might offer rather than the eternal kingdom awaiting us.

The Solemnity of Christ the King reminds us to look into our hearts. Where are our values and our faith rooted? Are they in some form of power in this world? Material goods? Prestige? Human approval? Or are our hearts ready to give themselves away to Christ the King and to His Church?

This Sunday, we rejoice and truly celebrate the full greatness of that King who was born in a stable and who died on a windy exposed cross. It took humility for the King to come among us as He did. But His humility showed us all the more, how much that King loved us and wants each of us in His Father’s kingdom.