Christ the King
“My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18: 36).
We love God because He first loved us, and our love of neighbor is based in our love of Him, enabling us to do extraordinary things for God. This is what makes our love of neighbor meritorious and true charity. Christ showed the depths of His love by giving His life on the throne of His cross for our redemption. By shedding His blood, He saved us from the power of sin and death; that is, the power sin has over us and the eternal death of hell. In His death Christ showed us the path to sacrificial love.
This type of love has caused many to give up their lives, as in the case of the holy martyrs of the Church. A martyr is one who is killed for the faith and who willingly dies for Christ and the Catholic faith. Saint Catherine of Siena states, “The martyrs desired death, not to fly labor, but to attain their end. And why did they not fear death, from which man so naturally shrinks? Because they had vanquished the natural love of their own bodies, by divine and supernatural love.” A martyr is chosen by God, but they cannot be a martyr by force. It is an act of love.
To draw an analogy with a fictional character, Harry Potter illustrates the difference between choosing sacrificial love as opposed to being a victim of circumstance. In the sixth book in the series, Harry realizes he is voluntarily making the choice to face the malevolent antagonist, Lord Voldemort, to save his friends, the world he loves, and consequently the world. We read, “But he understood at last… It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high.”
To defeat evil, he is willing to sacrifice his life, as our Savior freely shed His blood for love of us. Our Lord states, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:17-18). As Harry later reflects, “This cold-blooded walk to his own destruction would require a different kind of bravery.”
Jesus said, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whosoever would save his life will lose it; and whosoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it” (Luke 9:23-24).
Harry reads the passage from Saint Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians inscribed upon his parents' headstone, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26). If our hearts are rooted in love of God above all things and all creatures, we will be able to face anything for Him through the gift of fortitude, knowing that Christ has conquered eternal death. Two verses prior to this Saint Paul writes, “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power” (1 Cor. 15:24). At the resurrection of the dead Christ will hand over His kingdom to the Father, the fruits of His victory over sin and death.
If
our love is genuine, then we need not fear anything, even the giving of our
lives – sacrificial love. Our Savior and King was beaten, scourged, crowned
with thorns, mocked, and crucified. He mounted the throne of His cross, thereby
establishing His kingdom once and for all. It will come to its perfection at
the general judgment when He hands over His kingdom to the Father.