Thy Kingdom Come!

November 4, 2015

To the members of the Regnum Christi Movement
on the occasion of the Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Dearly esteemed in Christ:

In a few days, we will celebrate the solemnity of Christ the King, marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Legion and Regnum Christi. We have prayed to God for decades with the petition He Himself taught us: Thy Kingdom Come! Christ, our King, come your Kingdom! (cf. Mt 6:10).

Today, in these historical circumstances, our request must be more insistent, more convinced, if possible. We want Christ to reign in our hearts, in our families, in our teams and sections, in our apostolates, and through our prayer and apostolate, He makes His presence felt and reigns in people’s lives and in society.

This is our prayer, this is what we ask today with insistence. May Your Kingdom come to my heart! Certainly, we ask this with love every time we pray the Our Father, every time we make a ejaculatory prayer. And we do so with great confidence.

But it is necessary to pass it from words to life, to ensure that it is a deep and very real desire. To do this, we can ask ourselves what it means for Jesus Christ to come as king into our lives, into our hearts. It means that He takes possession of us, just as a king takes possession of his kingdom. It may be that He takes our heart after one or several battles against ourselves, or it may be that it is a peaceful surrender. But He takes possession. «You seduced me, and I let myself be seduced…» (Jr 20:7).

Following the readings of the solemnity of Christ the King, I leave you with some reflections on what it means for the Kingdom of Christ to come into our lives.

1. “He who loved us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us a kingdom” (Rev 1:6)

The lived experience of God’s love for us is at the root of our vocation to Regnum Christi. This merciful love is not an abstract reality but is made present in history, in each of us, and in the entire Movement, with very concrete manifestations. Just open your eyes and ask for the gift of faith to recognize God’s loving hand in happy years and dark moments, guiding us gently and firmly. Mercy has a face: Jesus Christ, our King and Lord.

He has chosen to come down to our smallness, to our existence, which can sometimes seem gray and meaningless, to reveal His infinite mercy. He has spared nothing to make us understand the love He experiences for each of us: He has poured out His blood generously, to the last drop.

He lifts us up and not only cleans us but also takes upon Himself our poverty and makes us partakers of His mission. He has made us a kingdom, a people belonging to Him. And, out of pure love, He invites us to undertake actions and create institutions through which this kingdom is established in the hearts of men, families, and society. He wants us to do this concretely in our history, to be signs of His kingdom’s presence in the world, trusting more in His grace and His choice than in our own strength.

2. My kingdom is not of this world (Jn 18:36)

Jesus Christ has come to establish a kingdom different from the kingdoms of this world, which are temporary and fleeting. His is an “eternal and universal kingdom: the kingdom of truth and life, the kingdom of holiness and grace, the kingdom of justice, love, and peace,” as the preface of this feast reminds us. Therefore, His criteria are different from those of the world.

Today, all Christians are invited by Jesus Christ to give testimony of our adherence to Him and to the Church. It is not just about “giving time” to the Lord, perhaps through prayer or apostolate, but about “giving Him our heart.” That is, it is not only the many activities that proclaim the presence of the kingdom already among us (cf. Lk 17:21), but also the coherence of life with our Christian vocation and the enthusiasm and generosity with which we dedicate ourselves, concretely, to respond to Christ’s love, giving Him the first place in our lives and loving Him in service to our brothers.

It is true that living today with coherence and countercultural stance is not an easy task. But precisely because of this, the testimony we can give of divine mercy and the truth that makes us free can be more eloquent. And that is why we ask the Lord to grant us this grace and that it bears fruit in us.

Sometimes, we can describe what happens in reality only with what we see with our eyes, and that is a real, external description. But reality can also be described by including our desires and projects; it can be seen as something in motion, in transformation, with a purpose that is not of this world. That description is also true. It is to accept that Christ the King, with His providence, is present and active in the world, acting directly with His grace and indirectly through His apostles and through the hearts and actions of His apostles. He comes into the world and establishes His kingdom in the hearts of people and through people in others, in families, and in society. A kingdom of God’s presence, grace, justice, love, and peace.

Describing reality from God’s perspective, who desires to reign and is acting, means seeing not only with the eyes of the body but also with faith, hope, and love. With faith, we see that God is present, acting, calling us, and still calling workers to His harvest. We see and feel the heart of Christ crucified, given out of love for us, and share His feelings. He comes to our mind and makes us see our lives also as a mission, He comes to our hearts and helps us love as He does. He fills us with hope and we trust: I am with you always, to the end of the age (cf. Mt 28:20). With hope, desires become projects, and difficulties turn into opportunities to love.

3. You said it, I am a King (Jn 18:37)

Faced with a kingdom that is not of this world and that is always under construction, it is easy for many today to ask skeptical questions to Christians about Christ, like the one Pilate himself asked: “Is Christ a king?” (cf. Jn 18:37).

We know the answer. In fact, we proclaim it every time we say our ejaculatory prayer: “Christ our King! Thy Kingdom Come!” But today, the world does not believe so much in teachers but in witnesses, in those who demonstrate with their lives that the Lordship of Jesus Christ is a reality lived every day.

Perhaps this feast is an opportunity to make Regnum Christi an even more open and welcoming movement, where more people can come into contact with God’s love. Where we know that Christ has washed our feet and our souls, and because of this experience of divine mercy, we want others to experience it through our selfless service. How wonderful it would be if, in each locality, through our apostolates, we could more consciously practice the works of corporal and spiritual mercy!

We are aware that the family is suffering a severe crisis worldwide. We know the Gospel of the family that the Church proclaims and realize that it is contrary in many aspects to the mentality of the world. Let us seek that each member of Regnum Christi can give testimony of appreciation for the family. Let us promote initiatives that accompany engaged couples preparing for marriage, newlyweds, those discovering the miracle of paternity and maternity. Let us compassionately and respectfully support families in difficulty and those experiencing challenging family situations. Let us pray together for the family and also for charity and unity among the members of our spiritual family. Let us not be afraid to proclaim with conviction and mercy the truth of God about matrimonial love and family, thus giving testimony with our lives to the world that Jesus Christ is King.

Looking at the Gospel scene and the dialogue between our Lord and Pilate, it strikes that Jesus Christ does not seem to be a king according to worldly criteria. His crown is of thorns. He appears rather weak and defeated. But precisely, this teaches us that the most important thing to proclaim His greatness and His dominion over the universe is not in great successes according to the world but in always doing the Father’s will out of love. It is a kingdom of love and grace.

This year, we also have the grace of the plenary indulgence granted by Pope Francis for this feast, not only to lay members, to whom Saint John Paul II usually granted it, but also to legionaries and consecrated members. Additionally, a novena rich in Scripture texts has been prepared, which can move hearts to celebrate this feast as a family.

I ask the Holy Virgin, Queen of the apostles, to obtain for us the grace to be more aware that Jesus Christ loved us so that we might be the germ of His kingdom in this world and give testimony of the Truth, which is Himself. May she help us to show God’s merciful love to our brothers, especially to families.

Count on my prayers and I ask you to remember me in yours,

Eduardo Robles-Gil, LC

Attachment: Novena of Christ the King

(The letter from Father Eduardo can be downloaded in PDF format at this link).