Welcome to the Season of Advent, the Season that begins the Liturgical Year of the Church and invites us to prepare ourselves for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. During this Season, the Church invites us to prepare for the commemoration of the historical birth of Jesus Christ which is marked with the solemn celebration of Christmas, and for the second coming which will take place at the end of time. This is why the theme of preparation runs through the readings of the First Sunday of Advent.

With the celebration of the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe today, we shall bring to a close the Church’s Liturgical Year. When we come to Church next weekend, we will celebrate the First Sunday of Advent which serves the dual purpose of ushering us into the Advent Season and effectively begins a new Liturgical year, Year “A.” The Solemnity of Christ the King was instituted as a feast in the Liturgical calendar by Pope Pius XI in 1925, and in 1970 its observance was moved from October to the last Sunday of Ordinary Time and thus, the end of the Liturgical year.

It is the penultimate weekend of the Liturgical Year and we know the last few Sundays of every Liturgical year are dedicated to reflections on the four last things: Death, Resurrection, Judgement and Heaven/ Hell. Last weekend we were invited to reflect on the Resurrection and its implications. This weekend, the Readings suggest a solemn consideration of post-Resurrection Judgment.

We are gradually approaching the end of the Church’s Liturgical Year and so the Readings are beginning to tilt towards explaining the reality of the end of life on earth and what we should expect thereafter. This weekend we are expected to consider the concept of the Resurrection of the dead.