The feast of Christ the King occurs the Sunday before All Saints Day and emphasizes that Christ is the King of all saints, whether they be of the Church militant, expectant or triumphant.
No Christian can become a saint without taking up his cross and following Christ. Every knee will bow before His throne. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He alone has wrought our salvation.
The crucifix (above) which shows Jesus on the Cross but in eucharistic vestments declares both His suffering and Victory in a powerful way.
Poetry, also, draws us to His saving actions, as the following work by Gerald Manley Hopkins shows us...
O God, I love thee, I love thee -
Not out of hope of heaven for me
Nor fearing not to love and be
In the everlasting burning.
Thou, thou, my Jesus, after me
Didst reach thine arms out dying.
For my sake sufferedst nails and lance,
Mocked and marred countenance,
Sorrows passing number,
Sweat and care and cumber,
Yea and death, and this for me,
And thou couldst see me sinning:
Then I, why should not I love thee,
Jesus, so much in love with me.
"Rejoice we all in the Lord, keeping holy-day in honour of all the Saints: in whose solemnity the Angels rejoice and glorify the Son of God." (From the day's introit, page E 132, The People's Anglican Missal).
