God is King!

Our refrain for the Responsorial Psalm from today's Mass is the same as yesterday's -- "God is king of all the earth." This happens now and then in the liturgy -- we repeat the same refrain a couple of days in a row. I don't know why the Church has chosen to do this, but I view it as a little sign that she is saying something significant and that I should heed her words. The Church is our mother, and a mother often repeats herself when she wants to make a point with her children.

So today Mother Church insists, "God is king of all the earth." A mighty God is He, a great king above all gods (Ps 95:3). He is the King of love and mercy! My Mother tells me to let the king of glory enter (Ps 24:7). He desires my beauty, He is my lord and I must pay homage to Him (Ps 45:12). Good and loving mother that she is, she herself leads me and all of us to Jesus our King, escorting us amid gladness and joy (Ps 45:15-16) through all the tottering kingdoms of this passing world into His everlasting Kingdom, where His love triumphs and His peace holds sway. Our King, Mother Church declares, is truly risen from the dead in unspeakable glory, never to die again. He is the Morning Star, the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end (Rev. 22:16, 13). Yes, the Lord is King, my Mother exhorts me, and therefore I can and must have courage, be at peace, rejoice always, and forever give thanks!

Happy the people who acclaim such a king,

who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face!

Psalm 89:16