SOCL, 34 Christ the KingC

Sunday November 23, 2025

See

We engineer rescue fantasies where power proves itself through exemption—divinity validated by immunity to consequence, salvation measured by our extraction from difficulty. The crowd at Calvary demands performance: save yourself, prove your legitimacy by escaping what crushes us. We've inherited this theology, expecting God to function as cosmic emergency exit rather than companion through catastrophe.

The criminal beside Christ recognizes what power cannot: presence matters more than rescue, being remembered transcends being saved. He asks not for evacuation but for inclusion in divine memory when every system has decreed his erasure. This is faith stripped to essentials—not demanding miracles but trusting that somehow, impossibly, we matter even when we're dying.

Christ's response shatters our transactional expectations: paradise exists not after suffering ends but within it, wherever memory refuses erasure and presence transforms abandonment. We keep waiting for God to change our circumstances; perhaps divinity offers something more subversive—the assurance that no pain places us beyond remembrance, that accompaniment redefines what salvation means. Today, here, in this—not someday, elsewhere, after escape.

Listen

2 Samuel 5:1-3; Psalm 122 (121); Colossians 1:12-20; Luke 23:35-43

Reflect

(Luke 23:35-43)

-Recall a moment when you desperately wanted someone to fix your situation—to rescue you from consequences, erase difficulties, make everything okay again. Notice how exhausting it becomes to keep hoping for extraction, to measure love by whether it spares you pain.

-Consider the criminal's radical request: not rescue but remembrance, not escape but inclusion. What if the deepest need isn't to be saved from difficulty but to know we're not forgotten within it? How might companionship through suffering surpass exemption from it?

-Where in your life are you waiting for circumstances to change before you can experience peace? What shifts if transformation happens not through evacuation but through presence—if paradise isn't a future destination but attention that refuses to forget you, even now, especially now?

Pray

God who remembers, you inhabit our suffering rather than exempting us from it. Meet those who feel abandoned by systems that promised rescue. Teach us that salvation means accompaniment, not escape. Transform our communities from places demanding miracles into spaces practicing presence. Make us instruments of memory where the world decrees forgetting.

The Word today, 34 Christ the KingC

November 24 - November 29, 2025

Monday 24 November

Sts Andrew Dũng-Lạc and his Companions, martyrs

Daniel 1:1-6, 8-20 The book of Daniel is a book of protest, written in symbol or code. On the surface, it is about the time of Nebuchadnezzar, but in reality it is about the Syrian tyrant and persecutor, Antiochus IV Epiphanes. As in the time of Antiochus, the food laws were a test.

Luke 21:1-4 In an abbreviated version of a familiar story, Luke takes us to the heart of the matter of giving from within.

Tuesday 25 November

St Clement I, bishop of Rome, martyr; St Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and martyr

Daniel 2:31-45 Daniel is shown to be an interpreter of dreams. The real message is that seemingly all-powerful and ever-lasting systems of oppression come crashing down, without exception.

Luke 21:5-11 It is easy to misread the sign of the times and so Jesus warns his followers—and us —not to be deceived, especially by those making extravagant spiritual claims.

Wednesday 26 November

Daniel 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28 Our expression “the writing on the wall” comes from this very famous story—a highly theatrical tale. The king is punished for robbing the Temple and Daniel interprets for him the fearful writing on the wall: you too will come crashing down!!

Luke 21:12-19 Our Gospel paints a picture of great distress and yet, in the last two sentences, provides the very message of hope we so badly need in our time.

Thursday 27 November

St Fergal, bishop and missionary

Daniel 6:12-28 In today’s story, the issue is worship of false gods. At the time of writing, Jews were persecuted and worship of their God was prohibited. The king is converted, but, as we see, not to compassion and mercy!

Luke 21:20-28 Jesus, in full apocalyptic mode, assures us that the struggles of the end are to be seen as labour pains, leading to new birth. The end is therefore not “the end.”

Friday 28 November

Daniel 7:2-14 Where did Jesus get the expression Son of Man from? In part from this very vision in the book of Daniel. Heavenly judgment is in progress and the mediator between God and humans is precisely “one like a son of man.”

Luke 21:29-33 Reading the signs of the times is the task of us all, that we may know the kingdom of God among us. It is not always easy.

Saturday 29 November

Daniel 7:15-27 The message—in coded language—is the present seemingly everlasting oppression will come to a crashing end.

Luke 21:34-36 The final warning of the liturgical year is one of watchfulness. It would be easy to settle for a sentient existence, sleepwalking through life and satiating ourselves with distractions. We are called to greater awareness—and life!—than that.

References

-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2025cu, November 23). The solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112325.cfm

-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings

One another, 34 Christ the KingC

November 23, 2025

2 Samuel 5:1-3; Psalm 122 (121); Colossians 1:12-20; Luke 23:35-43

As the shepherd who cares for the flock, O God, you guide all things through Jesus whom you have exalted over all creation as king. Hear the prayers we offer in his name for the creation he cherished and that you entrust to us:

For the Church: that we may continue the ministry of Jesus in offering forgiveness and accepting suffering in being disciples each day: let us pray to the Lord.

For grace to forgive: that the Holy Spirit will move us to forgive all who have injured us and help us show concern and compassion for them: let us pray to the Lord.

For greater integrity: that we may both speak and live the virtues that God has planted deep within our hearts so that we may be authentic witnesses to God's reign: let us pray to the Lord.

For a transformation of our hearts: that through the Cross of Christ, our understandings of power, success, and glory may be transformed so that we may place ourselves more fully in the service of God: let us pray to the Lord.

For each of us: that we may live our lives fearlessly while recognizing that our goal is union with Christ in paradise: let us pray to the Lord.

For Christian unity: that Christ will guide us in working together as the Body of Christ so that we may advance Christ's reign and defeat the powers of darkness in society: let us pray to the Lord.

For the leaders of our nation: that they may recognize the source of their authority and be guided by God's wisdom in promoting justice and advancing the well-being of all members of society: let us pray to the Lord.

For healing of our nation: that God will heal the divisions within our nation and guide us toward greater respect for one another and a renewed commitment to our common values: let us pray to the Lord.

For all who are imprisoned, particularly those condemned to death: that the Spirit of God will lead them to conversion and through Christ into paradise: let us pray to the Lord.

For all who will be traveling this week: that God will guide them safely on their journeys and that their visits with family and friends will strengthen and renew them: let us pray to the Lord.

For all who struggle with life's demands, particularly the poor, the homebound, and those with mental illness: that God will sustain them and touch the hearts of many to be compassionate friends: let us pray to the Lord.

For all who are approaching death: that they may entrust themselves into God's loving embrace, be healed of their brokenness, and freed from their sinfulness: let us pray to the Lord.

For all who have died: that Christ the firstborn from the dead may welcome them into the fullness of life where sorrow and pain exist no more: let us pray to the Lord.

For Peace: that God will bring peace to all areas impacted by war and violence, protect people from storms and the cold, and open avenues of dialogue between opposing parties: let us pray to the Lord.

Look upon your people who rejoice in your justice and mercy, and grant that the prayers we make may reveal Christ’s reign in our time. Amen.

References

-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2025cu, November 23). The solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112325.cfm

-Cormier, J. (1995). Lord, Hear Our Prayer: Prayer of the Faithful for Sundays, Holy Days, and Ritual Masses.