HOW DO YOU
PICTURE
CHRIST?
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “How Do You Picture Christ?”
I thought that would be a good theme to think about for this Sunday’s feast: Christ the King – this last Sunday in the Church year. Then we will start Advent on the following Sunday – December 1st - as we move toward Christmas – with Christ being featured as a baby.
ONE PICTURE
If you had to pick one picture of Christ that says a lot to you, what image of Christ would you choose?
What are the choices?
Christ on the Cross? Christ the Good Shepherd? The Risen Christ? The Christ Child? Christ in the Garden? Christ in the Sky? Christ of the Banquet – feeding us with the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation? The Peacemaker? The Prophet? The Suffering Servant?
After the last two Masses people gave me some of their choices. One lady said, “I like to picture Christ in the desert – in deep prayer.”
How do you picture Christ?
People have pictures of their spouse, their children, their family, their friends, in their wallets – and now on their computers and cell phones, etc. Does anyone have a picture of Christ in their wallet? What’s in your wallet?
TITLES OF CHRIST
Christ has many titles: the Lord, the Savior, the King, the Redeemer, the Friend, the Risen One.
Today’s title is: Christ the King.
Why not Emperor? Why not Leader? Why not President? Why not Boss? Why not Center? Why not Heart? Why not Meaning? As in Christ is the center, the heart, the meaning of my life. As in: “Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life."
TODAY’S SECOND READING
Today’s second reading, I think, is the best of today’s three readings for this feast of Christ the King. After yesterday’s 4:30 Mass a lady asked me if the gospel was the correct reading. She said, “Isn’t that a reading we hear in Holy Week?”
I said, “Yes, but they were trying to come up with readings to fit the theme of Christ the King – and today’s gospel talks about Jesus on the cross as king.
Today’s second reading has what scholars think is an early Christian hymn that Paul brought into his letter. Listen again. For us who follow Christ:
He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created,
the visible and the invisible….
He is before all things
and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he himself might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile all things for him,
making peace by the blood of the cross
through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.
To me that is a wonderful poetic vision of who Christ is for those who have made Christ the meaning, the center, the foundation of their life.
THE FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING
This feast of Christ the King was established in 1925 with Pope Pius XI’s encyclical on Christ the King (Quas primas). So it’s a rather recent feast – but it can be traced back to Cyril of Alexandria (c. 378 - 444) – as well as the New Testament. Pope Pius XI saw what so many of our modern popes, and parents, and people have seen: people dropping Christ out of their life – and going the rest of the way without a religious center – or focus – or foundation for their life.
Peter Berger, the sociologist, in a lecture, mentioned a French sociologist, Gabriel LeBras, “the father of religious sociology". LeBras used the image of a magical train station in Paris. People would leave the farm and the countryside of Normandy, the most Catholic section of France, and take a train to the big city. When they got off the train , they left their past behind – especially their Catholic faith.
Today, for many, it’s college – or high school – or what have you. Through the years, I’ve heard the one thing the bishops of the United States could not agree on is a standard age for confirmation – because this might be the last time we see these kids till they are married or for the baptism of their kids – or the death of their parents.
Peter Berger says that the statistics and some studies don’t “prove” that “so many modern people have lost their religion”.
Yet what title, what image, what picture do we present, when we want to proclaim Christ to our world – to each other?
Whether “King” is the best word or image for Christ – some word and some image has to be chosen. What word and what image do you use to describe Christ?
And how do you picture Christ?
WASHINGTON D.C.
In 1959 I visited Washington DC – and I went with my brother to the National Shrine – the big basilica - of the Immaculate Conception on Michigan Avenue.
He had met and married my sister-in-law, Joanne, who grew up on Michigan Avenue.
We walked in and we walked around. When I looked up, I was floored by the gigantic red powerful image of Christ in Majesty up front – in the center – above everything. Christ did not look wimpy or weak or washed out. He was up front and central. [It's the top picture of the four pictures at the beginning of this homily.]
It’s said to be one of the largest ikons of Christ in the world. It has 3 million tiny tiles – taking up some 3,600 square feet. [Check out the web site: National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C.]
It was a “Wow” moment for me.
Looking back it was to be a religious experience for me – because it had an impact on my thinking about Christ in my life.
Has that ever happened to you when walking into a church, or cathedral, or mosque of temple?
That’s the purpose of religious art – to overwhelm, to speak out, to scream out to us – to proclaim God!
At St. John Neumann’s Church, our other church here in Annapolis, we have that gigantic cross of Jesus. I’m sure it’s like the proverbial saying about priests and pastors: 1/3 like you, 1/3 don’t like you, 1/3 don’t care. What does that image of Christ say to you?
I’m sure it says a lot more to people who are there for a funeral – than those who are here for a wedding.
We Redemptorists were founded by St. Alphonsus – who wrote and meditated and preached deeply on the cross – Christ the Redeemer hanging on a cross – and dying there for our redemption.
What image of Christ would you put up front and center of the church building of your dreams?
This is the last week with the 2007 missalettes. They print millions and millions of these – and they are with us for a year. Some parishes like ours cover them so you don't see the picture; some parishes cover them with see through covers; some parishes have no cover at all.
I don’t know if this image of Christ is a 1/3, 1/3, 1/3. I’d be in the 1/3 that doesn’t like it. It doesn’t grab me. It doesn’t give me a “wow”. I say that nervously, in case the artist is in this church – or someone here is related to the artist. Hey, you never know. But this image grabbed someone – or the team that worked this out – this picture of Christ at the Last Supper. Next year’s picture is similar – but I like it better because it doesn’t show any people – just the bread and the wine and the food on the table of the Last Supper. I think this type of art work goes better without drawings of people. I’m giving my taste and opinion here – and like most art: like and dislike is in the eye of the beholder.
Why not put on the cover the powerful Red Christ, the Pantocrator in the National Catholic Cathedral in Washington DC – or the many powerful Eastern Orthodox images of Jesus? [Check out the 4th picture of Christ at the beginning of this homily.] I have to admit, ever since I saw the image of Christ in the National Shrine in 1959, I’ve been biased towards that kind of an image for the up front and center image for a church or a missalette. Or why not a picture of a great stained glass window? Why not a strong image of Christ on the cross? I remember watching a TV documentary on where Pope John Paul II came from in Poland. There was a scene from a cemetery where the camera scanned some strong and dramatic crucifixes. Compared to other crosses showing the suffering Christ, those Polish green and stained bronze images of Christ were a lot more poignant and powerful than a lot of those tan all the same wooden or plastic crosses of Christ.
I like the image of the laughing Christ – but that is not my central image of Christ – but I do hear Christ laughing at me at times. How about you? Do you ever have a good laugh with Christ?
I took a mini-course on religious art somewhere along the line. I don’t remember much – other than the teacher saying there are tons of junky religious art out there – and from then on in – I was able to say at least to myself, “Junk!” “Junk!” “Junk!” as I looked at religious pictures or statues or walked into religious places.
There are many rich images of Christ to choose from. Check out the masters. Type into Google names like El Greco, Tiepolo, Tintoretto, Caravaggio. If all else fails, pick Rembrandt. [It is the second of four images of Christ in the beginning of this homily.]
On my wall in my room I have two images of Christ: a Greek Icon of Christ from Spain – that my niece Claire and her husband Christian gave me as a gift for doing their wedding. It’s a very serious Christ and I look to him in prayer as I begin working on a sermon. “A sermon is a serious moment!” I have a wooden crucifix that Father John Harrison gave me after my good friend Pasquale Tremonte died over in Seaford, Delaware, two years ago. They were stationed together there. Pasquale was a great character and was forever forgetting things as well as being clumsy – and this Christ is hanging there without arms. I’ve meditated on that a lot - while wondering, "What happened?" My sister Mary paints and likes paintings, so a few months ago I gave her a third painting I had on my wall for years. It’s a dark blue image of Christ walking down a road carrying a cross and calling people on the side of the road to follow him. They are dressed as clowns. It was hanging in a bar and drug and hippie place in Long Branch NJ and a guy I helped with his addictions bought it off the wall and gave it to me as a gift for helping him. [It's the third of the four images of Christ I have in the beginning of this homily.]
How do you picture Christ?
CHRIST THE KING
As we all know, Christ as King is a great paradox. He was a king who got a crown of thorns and had a cross for his throne. He was a king who washed feet and rode a donkey into town. He was a king who said, “My kingdom is not of this world – but what I want to do in this world is to serve. I have no army – but I do have all those who want to follow me – and if you want to follow me – you have to die to yourself – and discover life is not about ego or power of self – but about children and the poor and the not noticed.”
As we all know, Christ the King is the model for moms and dads, popes and priests, politicians and mayors, for all those who serve others. The message is: put those we serve first. That’s what it’s all about.
CONCLUSION
So this feast is a good theme to think about, as we come to the end of the Church Year. To sum things up: “This feast is a good feast to think about as we are about to begin a new Church Year." The question or questions I’m asking in this homily has been: how do you picture Christ, how do see Christ, how does Christ fit into your life?
To continue the dialogue, please put on your schedule, your calendar, the Parish Mission which starts here next Sunday – as a way to deeper one’s relationship with Christ. With our busy schedules, make one evening, two evenings, three evenings, all the evenings – and / or the morning sessions of the parish mission. Avoid the Christmas rush. Slow down and hide in this sacred place.
The title of my homily is, “How Do You Picture Christ?”
I thought that would be a good theme to think about for this Sunday’s feast: Christ the King – this last Sunday in the Church year. Then we will start Advent on the following Sunday – December 1st - as we move toward Christmas – with Christ being featured as a baby.
ONE PICTURE
If you had to pick one picture of Christ that says a lot to you, what image of Christ would you choose?
What are the choices?
Christ on the Cross? Christ the Good Shepherd? The Risen Christ? The Christ Child? Christ in the Garden? Christ in the Sky? Christ of the Banquet – feeding us with the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation? The Peacemaker? The Prophet? The Suffering Servant?
After the last two Masses people gave me some of their choices. One lady said, “I like to picture Christ in the desert – in deep prayer.”
How do you picture Christ?
People have pictures of their spouse, their children, their family, their friends, in their wallets – and now on their computers and cell phones, etc. Does anyone have a picture of Christ in their wallet? What’s in your wallet?
TITLES OF CHRIST
Christ has many titles: the Lord, the Savior, the King, the Redeemer, the Friend, the Risen One.
Today’s title is: Christ the King.
Why not Emperor? Why not Leader? Why not President? Why not Boss? Why not Center? Why not Heart? Why not Meaning? As in Christ is the center, the heart, the meaning of my life. As in: “Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life."
TODAY’S SECOND READING
Today’s second reading, I think, is the best of today’s three readings for this feast of Christ the King. After yesterday’s 4:30 Mass a lady asked me if the gospel was the correct reading. She said, “Isn’t that a reading we hear in Holy Week?”
I said, “Yes, but they were trying to come up with readings to fit the theme of Christ the King – and today’s gospel talks about Jesus on the cross as king.
Today’s second reading has what scholars think is an early Christian hymn that Paul brought into his letter. Listen again. For us who follow Christ:
He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created,
the visible and the invisible….
He is before all things
and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he himself might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile all things for him,
making peace by the blood of the cross
through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.
To me that is a wonderful poetic vision of who Christ is for those who have made Christ the meaning, the center, the foundation of their life.
THE FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING
This feast of Christ the King was established in 1925 with Pope Pius XI’s encyclical on Christ the King (Quas primas). So it’s a rather recent feast – but it can be traced back to Cyril of Alexandria (c. 378 - 444) – as well as the New Testament. Pope Pius XI saw what so many of our modern popes, and parents, and people have seen: people dropping Christ out of their life – and going the rest of the way without a religious center – or focus – or foundation for their life.
Peter Berger, the sociologist, in a lecture, mentioned a French sociologist, Gabriel LeBras, “the father of religious sociology". LeBras used the image of a magical train station in Paris. People would leave the farm and the countryside of Normandy, the most Catholic section of France, and take a train to the big city. When they got off the train , they left their past behind – especially their Catholic faith.
Today, for many, it’s college – or high school – or what have you. Through the years, I’ve heard the one thing the bishops of the United States could not agree on is a standard age for confirmation – because this might be the last time we see these kids till they are married or for the baptism of their kids – or the death of their parents.
Peter Berger says that the statistics and some studies don’t “prove” that “so many modern people have lost their religion”.
Yet what title, what image, what picture do we present, when we want to proclaim Christ to our world – to each other?
Whether “King” is the best word or image for Christ – some word and some image has to be chosen. What word and what image do you use to describe Christ?
And how do you picture Christ?
WASHINGTON D.C.
In 1959 I visited Washington DC – and I went with my brother to the National Shrine – the big basilica - of the Immaculate Conception on Michigan Avenue.
He had met and married my sister-in-law, Joanne, who grew up on Michigan Avenue.
We walked in and we walked around. When I looked up, I was floored by the gigantic red powerful image of Christ in Majesty up front – in the center – above everything. Christ did not look wimpy or weak or washed out. He was up front and central. [It's the top picture of the four pictures at the beginning of this homily.]
It’s said to be one of the largest ikons of Christ in the world. It has 3 million tiny tiles – taking up some 3,600 square feet. [Check out the web site: National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C.]
It was a “Wow” moment for me.
Looking back it was to be a religious experience for me – because it had an impact on my thinking about Christ in my life.
Has that ever happened to you when walking into a church, or cathedral, or mosque of temple?
That’s the purpose of religious art – to overwhelm, to speak out, to scream out to us – to proclaim God!
At St. John Neumann’s Church, our other church here in Annapolis, we have that gigantic cross of Jesus. I’m sure it’s like the proverbial saying about priests and pastors: 1/3 like you, 1/3 don’t like you, 1/3 don’t care. What does that image of Christ say to you?
I’m sure it says a lot more to people who are there for a funeral – than those who are here for a wedding.
We Redemptorists were founded by St. Alphonsus – who wrote and meditated and preached deeply on the cross – Christ the Redeemer hanging on a cross – and dying there for our redemption.
What image of Christ would you put up front and center of the church building of your dreams?
This is the last week with the 2007 missalettes. They print millions and millions of these – and they are with us for a year. Some parishes like ours cover them so you don't see the picture; some parishes cover them with see through covers; some parishes have no cover at all.
I don’t know if this image of Christ is a 1/3, 1/3, 1/3. I’d be in the 1/3 that doesn’t like it. It doesn’t grab me. It doesn’t give me a “wow”. I say that nervously, in case the artist is in this church – or someone here is related to the artist. Hey, you never know. But this image grabbed someone – or the team that worked this out – this picture of Christ at the Last Supper. Next year’s picture is similar – but I like it better because it doesn’t show any people – just the bread and the wine and the food on the table of the Last Supper. I think this type of art work goes better without drawings of people. I’m giving my taste and opinion here – and like most art: like and dislike is in the eye of the beholder.
Why not put on the cover the powerful Red Christ, the Pantocrator in the National Catholic Cathedral in Washington DC – or the many powerful Eastern Orthodox images of Jesus? [Check out the 4th picture of Christ at the beginning of this homily.] I have to admit, ever since I saw the image of Christ in the National Shrine in 1959, I’ve been biased towards that kind of an image for the up front and center image for a church or a missalette. Or why not a picture of a great stained glass window? Why not a strong image of Christ on the cross? I remember watching a TV documentary on where Pope John Paul II came from in Poland. There was a scene from a cemetery where the camera scanned some strong and dramatic crucifixes. Compared to other crosses showing the suffering Christ, those Polish green and stained bronze images of Christ were a lot more poignant and powerful than a lot of those tan all the same wooden or plastic crosses of Christ.
I like the image of the laughing Christ – but that is not my central image of Christ – but I do hear Christ laughing at me at times. How about you? Do you ever have a good laugh with Christ?
I took a mini-course on religious art somewhere along the line. I don’t remember much – other than the teacher saying there are tons of junky religious art out there – and from then on in – I was able to say at least to myself, “Junk!” “Junk!” “Junk!” as I looked at religious pictures or statues or walked into religious places.
There are many rich images of Christ to choose from. Check out the masters. Type into Google names like El Greco, Tiepolo, Tintoretto, Caravaggio. If all else fails, pick Rembrandt. [It is the second of four images of Christ in the beginning of this homily.]
On my wall in my room I have two images of Christ: a Greek Icon of Christ from Spain – that my niece Claire and her husband Christian gave me as a gift for doing their wedding. It’s a very serious Christ and I look to him in prayer as I begin working on a sermon. “A sermon is a serious moment!” I have a wooden crucifix that Father John Harrison gave me after my good friend Pasquale Tremonte died over in Seaford, Delaware, two years ago. They were stationed together there. Pasquale was a great character and was forever forgetting things as well as being clumsy – and this Christ is hanging there without arms. I’ve meditated on that a lot - while wondering, "What happened?" My sister Mary paints and likes paintings, so a few months ago I gave her a third painting I had on my wall for years. It’s a dark blue image of Christ walking down a road carrying a cross and calling people on the side of the road to follow him. They are dressed as clowns. It was hanging in a bar and drug and hippie place in Long Branch NJ and a guy I helped with his addictions bought it off the wall and gave it to me as a gift for helping him. [It's the third of the four images of Christ I have in the beginning of this homily.]
How do you picture Christ?
CHRIST THE KING
As we all know, Christ as King is a great paradox. He was a king who got a crown of thorns and had a cross for his throne. He was a king who washed feet and rode a donkey into town. He was a king who said, “My kingdom is not of this world – but what I want to do in this world is to serve. I have no army – but I do have all those who want to follow me – and if you want to follow me – you have to die to yourself – and discover life is not about ego or power of self – but about children and the poor and the not noticed.”
As we all know, Christ the King is the model for moms and dads, popes and priests, politicians and mayors, for all those who serve others. The message is: put those we serve first. That’s what it’s all about.
CONCLUSION
So this feast is a good theme to think about, as we come to the end of the Church Year. To sum things up: “This feast is a good feast to think about as we are about to begin a new Church Year." The question or questions I’m asking in this homily has been: how do you picture Christ, how do see Christ, how does Christ fit into your life?
To continue the dialogue, please put on your schedule, your calendar, the Parish Mission which starts here next Sunday – as a way to deeper one’s relationship with Christ. With our busy schedules, make one evening, two evenings, three evenings, all the evenings – and / or the morning sessions of the parish mission. Avoid the Christmas rush. Slow down and hide in this sacred place.
What’s great is that there is a mission going on for our Hispanic parishioners at this time as well a high school retreat for our juniors that week as well – up in New Jersey. Great! We Redemptorists were started with the purpose to preach missions and retreats – 275 years ago this year.
