November 20: The Day of the Lord

The Old English roots of the word “lord” are found along the lines of “master of a household, ruler, guardian, keeper, and superior.” In fact, the Old English hlaford is a contraction of the earlier hlafweard, literally “one who guards the loaves.”

When the Scriptures speak of Jesus as “the Lord of our lives,” all of the above comes into play. Jesus is the master of our household, our ruler (King), our guardian, our keeper, and our superior.

Today’s Feast of Christ the King reminds us that we have been invited to accept Christ as Lord and Savior – and to surrender our lives to Him, much as He surrendered Himself to the Father. How do we do that? We surrender our lives to Jesus every day when we give priority to His teaching in our daily choices, especially in moral decisions. In other words, Christ wants to be in full charge of our lives, and we are asked to give Him sovereign power over every aspect of our lives.

Jesus our King declared that He came not to be served but to serve and showed us the spirit of service by washing of the feet of His disciples. We become Jesus’ followers more and more when we recognize His presence in everyone, especially the poor, the sick, the outcast, and the marginalized in the society and render humble and loving service to Jesus in each of them.

Jesus our King came to proclaim to all of us the Good News of God’s love and salvation, He gave us His new commandment of love: “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13, 34), and He demonstrated that love by dying for us. We accept Jesus as our Lord and King when we love others as He loved: willingly, unconditionally, and sacrificially.

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Food for thought: A mother reports a funny piece of advice she received from her little son: “Tired of struggling with my strong-willed little boy, Thomas, I looked him in the eye and asked a question I felt sure would bring him in line: ‘Thomas, who is in charge here?’ Not missing a beat, he replied, ‘Jesus is, and not you mom.’ To which I stammered and said, ‘Well, okay. After Jesus, who is in charge here?’” Is Jesus really in charge of our lives day in and day out?

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