On the last Sunday of each liturgical year, the Church celebrates the “Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe” or, “Christ the King.” This Solemnity was established in 1925 by Pope Pius XI with his encyclical Quas Primas (in the first) as a response to growing secularism and Atheism. The Pope noted the unholy attempt by the world to “thrust Jesus Christ and His Holy Law” out of public life, and the resultant discord, distrust and injustice among people and nations. This Solemnity reminds us that while empires and governments come and go, Christ and His reign enjoy permanent duration. The Readings at the Liturgy presents Christ and His Divine reign in this light.

We have arrived at the penultimate weekend to the end of the liturgical year. Next weekend shall be the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, and that my friends, will bring us to the end of the liturgical “Year A.” The season of Advent will then begin a new liturgical year. At the end of every calendar year, we often take stock of most aspects of our lives. We take a look at how we are doing financially, many do a comprehensive medical examination to find out where they are healthwise, and most families come together not only to celebrate but to also dialogue on the state of their relationship with one another in the family. The Church, God’s great family where Jesus is the head and we are the body, invites us to effect an introspection, a personal inquiry into how we have used, failed to use, or misused the talents invested in each of us by God’s benevolence.

Robert Baden-Powell, the English soldier who founded the Boy Scouts published the motto, “Be Prepared” in his 1908 handbook, Scouting for Boys. He wrote that to be prepared meant “you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty.” A wise person ensures that he stays prepared for any event or activity, especially the ones for which he has been afforded previous information. The Readings at the Liturgy this weekend invite us to make the wise decision of staying awake and prepared for the coming of God’s Kingdom among us.

In His unfathomable wisdom, God has blessed every one of us with charisms, the application of these gratuitous gifts when left to the dictates of our individual volitions, usually end up producing self-centered and sometimes harmful results that are injurious not only to our conscience but also to our community and even society. Good leadership is the gap-filler that coordinates our individual talents and applies them for the improvement of our human condition and to the greater glory of God. This is true even in our relationship with God. If everyone of us was asked to determine, on the basis of personal preference, how our relationship with God should be, the result would certainly be unmitigated chaos. This is why even God needs leaders to ensure that the assembly of those who believe in Him and have opted to stay in the right relationship with Him are properly enabled to sustain it. What constitutes good leadership is the unifying theme of the Readings at the liturgy this weekend.