“The King of Kings” Today we celebrate the end of our liturgical church season with a Sunday mass dedicated to our Blessed Saviour, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings! And it is with additional great joy we salute the now honourable Fr Wayne Lobsinger who has just been assigned by Pope Francis as our new Auxiliary Bishop. Fr Lobsinger is indeed a very good man whom we can expect many years of compassionate, careful, and kind leadership in the Diocese of Hamilton. ‘Congratulations, to Fr Wayne!’
With all the turmoil the Covid Pandemic has caused us globally, and its disruption of anticipated holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, I began to wax nostalgic about traditional gatherings my own family have had through the past years, which I am sure are familiar to most of us. There were in fact three traditions we celebrated at the end of the church season: one at home, one at school, and one at church. The 1927 B&W silent movie, ‘The King of Kings’, the first Hollywood feature film to honour the life of Christ, was originally conceived by legendary producer and director, Cecil B. DeMille, probably best remembered for two versions of ‘The Ten Commandments’, one B&W silent, the other in colour, another perennial favourite. But it was the highly acclaimed colour version of ‘The King of Kings’ made in 1961 which our family watched every year with rapt attention on a Sunday afternoon with our bowls of popcorn and soda. Jeffrey Hunter, as many agreed then, was considered the penultimate representation of what Jesus must have looked like. The second traditional activity was at school. Odd as it might sound in today’s world of apps and electronic gaming, Nicholson Catholic College had a ‘Chess Club’, a group of students who met in the library after school every Tuesday night for a few competitive rounds. To celebrate ‘Christ the King’, we would honour the winner with a religious article, perhaps a rosary, or what was very popular, a ‘glow in the dark’ Jesus figurine. Our local newspaper took a picture of myself and my classmate, John, for a community article about how the local Catholic school kids celebrated the ‘King of Kings’ by challenging each other in a duel of their ‘kings’ on the chess board. Belleville was a very small place then of only 16K people. The third tradition was at church where a special bazaar was organized to put into action the call of Christ to assemble food and goods, in order to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and clothe the naked. Some made special trips to Belleville General Hospital to spend some time with the sick, and others would even visit prisoners in our local county jail. My friend, Susan, and I would be there carrying boxes into the hall, handing out coffee, cookies, and sandwiches. It was a different world then, but not better than our world today – just different. My parents and oldest brother have since passed away, and siblings are living in far away places. Even John and Susan sadly died a few years ago from cancer. But life is a circle of important learning and critical experience. We must engage it! And the most significant part of life is living for others as Christ has called us to. The pandemic is perhaps the perfect motivation for us to help each other, especially those in greatest need of support: those who have lost their jobs, those who cannot pay their rent or afford to buy food, those who are sick and struggling with fatigue, those who await pending surgeries to relieve their pain, those who are in prison. If we want to help, we will find a way. If we want to contribute, there are many avenues in our parish and town, one of them our own Saint Vincent de Paul. Donations of funds are always needed. Donations of time are also greatly needed. One group is simply making a few calls a week to people in our parish who are alone at home or living in retirement or nursing homes with no family near with no communications like the internet. They love receiving these brief, but sincere calls just to see how they are doing. Just call our office, if this might interest you. If there is a will, there is a way. And if we search for a way, we will find someone very special. We will find Christ himself, the King of Kings. “Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of my brothers and sisters, you did it to me.” Rev Fr Christopher Tracey Saint Joseph Parish Saugeen Shores, Ontario
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Rev. Fr. Christopher Tracey
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