WITNESS TO JESUS | SOLEMNITY OF CHRIST THE KING
Here is the prepared text of the homily delivered on Nov. 24 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Honolulu for the 25th anniversary of the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement of the Vietnamese Holy Martyrs Catholic Community.
Last weekend I attended the National Catholic Youth Conference with about 3,000 youth, including about 30 or so members of the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement. At that conference, a young high school senior gave a moving testimony.
Since he was a boy, he loved football, and he could never play enough. He longed to be a professional football player as an adult.
He had an extremely successful football career in high school, becoming the varsity quarterback early in his sophomore year. He was admired by the coaches and other players, and, of course, was very popular at school. He was also a very devoted Catholic, and his faith was always very important to him.
When he was a junior, being the star quarterback, he spent a lot of time with the coaches. Unfortunately, he was scandalized by them, because he overheard many of their conversations in which they put down many of his teammates and belittled them behind their backs.
He struggled with this a great deal, and his prayer about it led him to quit the football team, telling his coaches that he was quitting because he could no longer trust that they really had the team’s back.
This was extremely hard, since he loved football so much, but he felt it was a decision that God wanted him to make.
This young man truly chose to make Christ his king. Yes, football ruled much of his life, and he ate, breathed and dreamed football. But when it came to making a choice between playing the game he loved and being truthful, he chose to be truthful, because he knew that Jesus was always truthful, even when it led to his own suffering and death.
As we look at Jesus declaring his kingship in today’s Gospel, we must remember that he was not sitting on the high and lofty throne described in the Book of Revelation, but he was on trial as a criminal before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.
When his rejection and suffering began, he could have rescinded all the things he said that so upset the leaders of his people. He could have gone along and apologized for making them feel uncomfortable. Perhaps they would have given him another chance.
But, no, Jesus stood firm on all he had said and done, because he knew that his followers, like that young football player, would have to make similar decisions in life. He was true to himself and true to his heavenly Father, and even though he had to suffer for it, he did not back down. His decision was clear, that he would stand in the truth, because he is the truth. And “everyone who belongs to him listens” to his voice.
As we celebrate this special 25th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement in this community, we pray that all our youth will look to Jesus, listen to his voice and make the decisions in life that are right, and just, and true.
Those decisions may not bring them acclaim. They may bring ridicule, rejection and suffering, and who wants any of those things? Yet if they stay close to Jesus Christ, the King, his truth and love will reign over them so that they can always be faithful in their witness to Jesus.
Of course, it is not only youth who are tempted to bow down to what pleases us rather than to worship the king of truth and love. We are all tempted to choose what brings us pleasure rather than what might bring us suffering.
Yet anyone who knows Jesus as King knows that if we remain faithful to him, the end of our stories will also be glorious. We will be able to give witness to him with a power that will move others, because our love is not based on what it can accomplish for us, but on how it can give glory to God.
