November 16, 2021
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
It doesn’t seem possible, but we are ending another liturgical season. The strains of “To Jesus Christ our sovereign king, who is the world’s salvation,” ring in my ears. This means that another cycle is completed. We are finishing Cycle B which holds forth Mark’s Gospel and now gives way to Cycle C, which is Luke’s Gospel. Cycle A proclaims Matthew’s Gospel. Each gospel possesses its unique theme and responds to the early Christian audience. But always Christ is the beginning and the end.
I have often said that a priest or a pastor, or in this case a bishop, really cannot lay claim to a relationship with the parish or the diocese unless they have prayed through the three liturgical cycles with their communities. Yet to my shock, this year I will be completing my fourth liturgical cycle. We have gone through a great deal together, but one thing I can personally be proud of is that we have taken on the challenges as a family of faith. It has been our prayer and commitment to Jesus Christ that has guided us.
The Church in her wisdom ends the liturgical year with the celebration of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. As Americans, we have never been comfortable with royalty. George Washington, our first president, rejected the crown, which in my mind makes him the greatest of all presidents because this act of refusing the crown shaped the office for all that followed. If he had placed his ego first, then I doubt that a United States would ever have existed.
George Washington was much more comfortable with Mr. President, and being first citizen. What is admirable is that as Americans, we never want to feel superior to our fellow citizens. Hopefully our politicians realize that our strength as a people comes from our recognition of our individual dignity.
But when it comes to Christ, he is superior to us. In the truest sense, he is a king who not only rules over his people but serves his people with his very life and whose identity we cultivate when we refer to ourselves as Christians. This king has placed himself on a throne, but the throne is the cross. This king wears a crown, not of gold but instead of thorns, a sign of his willingness to suffer for us. This king’s loyalty is over a people that did not earn his respect, and certainly did not deserve it. Yet everything he did, he did out of love for us, and obedience to his father. There is nothing that we do that can claim equality with him. We can only serve him in an eternal gratitude, for through him we inherit the life promised to us from the very beginning of the world.
Like all subjects, we try and reflect the image of the king. We follow this leader, for without him we are nothing and with him we are everything. To us, his subjects, this King of all the Universe offers a simple command — LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
Sincerely,
Most Reverend Jerome E. Listecki
Archbishop of Milwaukee
