Christ Must Reign

“Viva Cristo Rey!” — “Long live Christ the King!”  These are the words of the Cristero movement during the persecution of the Catholic Church in Mexico during the 1920s.  These were also the words of the Jesuit priest, Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro, as he was executed by firing squad (caught on video!) by the Mexican government during this tumultuous period.  He was among the hundreds of priests, nuns, and laity who were executed on account of their Catholic faith under the Mexican President Calles.

Even though we live in the United States in the 21st Century, we live in very confusing and uncertain times.  The unbelievable lack of transparency – not to mention the hidden abortion agenda – of the Affordable Care Act is only “the icing on the cake.”  However, a definitive beginning of persecution of the Catholic Church (and many other devout Christians) in America began on January 20, 2012 when HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (a supposed “Catholic”) announced the mandate requiring that health plans provide coverage for all contraceptives (sterilizations and abortifacients included) as part of “preventive health services for women.”  This was the first time in the history of our nation that government had attempted to coerce the Catholic Church to comply with a practice that is against her teachings.  Despite a so-called “compromise” in February 2012 and other delays for compliance, the Obama Administration has not relented in ultimately executing this unjust law.  At the end of the USCCB meeting earlier this month, the bishops reiterated the problems with the HHS mandate: “[I]t establishes a false architecture of religious liberty that excludes our ministries and so reduces freedom of religion to freedom of worship; it compels our ministries to participate in providing employees with abortifacient drugs and devices, sterilization, and contraception, which violates our deeply-held beliefs; and it compels our faithful people in business to act against our teachings, failing to provide them any exemption at all.”  Furthermore, this Administration has acted deviously by selecting the most controversial teaching of the Catholic Church – namely, her teaching against artificial contraception – to divide her members and to draw negative public attention.

If this is not enough to convince you of some scary tactics on the part of the government, just look at the media and Hollywood.  Almost always, Christians – particularly Catholics and Evangelicals – are portrayed as either ignorant (primitive people “who cling to their guns and religion”) or as fanatical (people who have irrational, outdated morals and who condemn “women, gays and lesbians”).  This is because the liberal elites who control the mass media and the entertainment industry are banded together with many who are our political leaders.

So what does this have to do with today?  The Solemnity of Christ the King is a reaffirmation that – no matter what happens – Jesus Christ is still Universal King and no one can take His place.  Christ told Pontius Pilate: “My kingdom does not belong to this world” (John 18:36).  Likewise, we who belong to Christ’s Kingdom must not submit to unjust laws.  We as Catholics will fight for our right to conscience in this country, and – as the U.S. bishops have said – we will not back down!  We hope that the persecution of the Catholic Church in the United States never has to go where the persecution went in Mexico in the 1920s, but one thing is sure . . . If it does happen, we better be prepared.  Whatever prevents Christ from reigning in our lives, our families and our nation, we better deal with it with God’s grace and we better do it soon.  Time may be running out.