WITH the last Sunday before Advent, Christ the King, we come at last to the parable for which previous weeks have been preparing us: the separation of the sheep and the goats. By raising up a prince among humankind, in the person of King David, God discloses his design for his creation. This is revealed in that fullness for which Paul longed, and we still pray: the birth of Christ, which ushers in the “Kingdom of the heavens” (Matthew’s distinctive expression). The commemoration of Christ the King celebrates an ultimate end, which is somehow the beginning of a new dawn, too. God makes Jesus Christ his way of drawing humankind to himself for ever.

Source: The Times November 20, 2023 12:21 UTC