HIDDEN WORKS

HIDDEN WORKS – Feast of Christ the King-Year A

We are not always aware of what others do in the work of Christ’s kingdom and Church. There are a number of reasons for this. Many of the works of the kingdom of Christ are spiritual and hidden by their nature, such as prayer, and the inner changing of the heart in conformity to God’s grace and Word. The building up of bonds among people is a hidden work. Many prefer that their works for the Church and Kingdom of God be hidden, or at least that attention not be drawn to them. And many who are doing the works of the Kingdom and Church even forget what they themselves do. The spiritual works of others are discovered at different times, but for the most part they will remain hidden until the General Judgment at the end of the ages!

If it is true that many, if not most, works of people for the Church and Kingdom under the power of the Holy Spirit remain hidden, it is even more true that the direct works of the Lord remain hidden. The Lord prefers to work through people to meet the needs of people. But people, as we know, can fail to carry out all the calls and works of the Lord even though the Lord provides what is needed to do so. When that happens, because of the Lord’s great love and mercy for people, the Lord acts more directly. The Lord revealed this through the prophet Ezekiel, “Thus says the Lord God: I myself will look after and tend my sheep…I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark…The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will heal, the sick I will heal…shepherding them rightly”.

We all experience in many ways, whether we are conscious of them or not, the shepherding work of Christ. The Church, the people of God, always pray and remain ever aware that the Lord saves directly any who are outside of the Church and its own members who are outside of its bounds of direct ministry at any time. There are no doors or fences that hold people in the Church, and so many do drift away, get entangled in the thickets of sin, become forgotten or unknown by the Church, except in the Church’s constant prayer for all its members, and especially for those who have strayed, been injured or lost to the Church’s active life.

The Feast of Christ the King can make us more aware of the Lord’s great saving and shepherding power. Foremost and most importantly, the Church is to stress and stay conscious of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ, who is the source of all of the Church’s life, power, and mission by His presence through the Person of the Holy Spirit.

Paul stressed constantly the saving work of Jesus. “Just as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will come to life again…He will hand over the kingdom to God the Father.” Staying conscious of Christ our King and Shepherd Lord, and realizing the Lord’s constant power, presence, and action, gives us confidence to participate in the life and works of His Church and Kingdom.

Besides the works of Christ the King being hidden in many ways, so too is Christ Himself hidden, but present in people. The full realization of this truth will come to us in the General Judgment at the end of the ages as we learn from Matthew’s 25th Chapter. “When the Son of Man comes in glory, escorted by all the angels of heaven, He will sit upon His royal throne, and all the nations will be assembled before Him.” What at scene!

The General Judgment will reveal the times we served and the times we failed to serve Christ the King in people. “I assure you, as often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me…I assure you, as often as you neglected to do it to one of these least ones, you neglected to do it to me.”

While the Lord does many things we can’t do, don’t or won’t do, nonetheless it’s very important that we seek to serve Christ our King on the earth as fully as we can. The way we serve Christ the King in the heart is what we are going to be judged on by the Risen Lord. “These will go off to eternal punishment and the just to eternal life.” Let’s be faithful servants of Christ the King!