Viva Cristo Rey! Long live Christ the King

"¡Viva Cristo Rey!” “Long live Christ the King”
 
I want to share the story behind this phrase that has echoed through history: "Viva Cristo Rey!" – "Long live Christ the King!”
 
These words became the rallying cry and  final testimony of Mexican martyrs during the Cristero War of the 1920s. This was a time when the Mexican government attempted to suppress the Catholic Church, closing churches and executing priests, thousands of faithful Catholics, many of them simple farmers and laypeople as well a clergy, took up arms to defend religious freedom. As they faced firing squads, their last words were often this defiant proclamation: "Viva Cristo Rey!"
 
Among them was a 14-year-old boy, Saint José Sánchez del Río, who was tortured and killed in 1928. As soldiers cut the soles of his feet and forced him to walk through the town, he cried out "Viva Cristo Rey!" With his last breath, as they prepared to shoot him, he shouted these words one final time. These weren't words of hatred or revenge, they were ultimate words of witness, declaration that no earthly power could separate them from their true King.
 
This cry reminds us that proclaiming Christ as King has always been, and remains, a revolutionary act.

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Brothers and sisters, today we celebrate one of the most powerful and challenging feasts in our liturgical calendar: the Solemnity of Christ the King.
 
Why then? Why was this feast necessary?
 
The History and Institution of This Feast
 
This feast didn't exist in the ancient Church. It was instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI in the aftermath of World War I, in his encyclical ‘Quas Primas’. Here is an excerpt of that encyclical. Again be mindful that this was 100 years ago in 1925.
 
“In the first Encyclical Letter which We addressed at the beginning of Our Pontificate to the Bishops of the universal Church, We referred to the chief causes of the difficulties under which mankind was laboring. And We remember saying that these manifold evils in the world were due to the fact that the majority of men had thrust Jesus Christ and his holy law out of their lives; that these had no place either in private affairs or in politics: and we said further, that as long as individuals and states refused to submit to the rule of our Savior, there would be no really hopeful prospect of a lasting peace among nations.”
 
The Pope looked out at a world that had just torn itself apart in World War I. Millions had died in trenches, following earthly kings and kaisers into catastrophic war. Secular ideologies – nationalism, communism, fascism – were rising up, all demanding absolute allegiance. The modern world was saying: the Church is irrelevant, religion is private, Christ has no claim over public life or political affairs.
 
Pius XI responded with this feast, declaring that Christ's kingship extends over all creation – over nations, over politics, over every dimension of human life. He wrote that the "plague" of secularism could only be cured by recognizing Christ's sovereign authority over all things. This wasn't just a nice theological idea; it was a direct challenge to the totalitarian impulses of the age.
 
The feast was strategically placed at the end of the liturgical year, as a culmination of everything we've celebrated. It reminds us how the story ends: Christ reigns, and every knee shall bow: ¡Viva Cristo Rey!
 
And yet, the kingship we celebrate today looks nothing like the kingdoms of this world. As we stand before the image of Christ crucified, we're confronted with a paradox that changes everything about how we understand power, authority, and what it means to follow our King.
 
Today's Gospel: The Kingdom from the Cross
 
As we dive into today’s Gospel, we see it  begins at Calvary, at the darkest moment in human history, and somehow this is where Luke places his proclamation of Christ's kingship.
 
Look at the cast of characters gathered around the cross. First, the rulers are sneering: "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God." Then the soldiers mock him: "If you are King of the Jews, save yourself." Even one of the criminals crucified beside him taunts: "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us."
 
Three times they say essentially the same thing: "If you're really a king, come down. Prove it. Save yourself."
 
This is the world's understanding of kingship. Kings have power, Kings protect themselves, they live in palaces, command armies, threaten others, they wear crowns of gold not thorns. Kings don't die helplessly on crosses; but our king does.
Pilate wrote the charges for which Jesus is being executed: "This is the King of the Jews." What he meant as mockery or acorn, God revealed as truth in the Resurrection. In Matthew’s Gospel the Magi go to Herod and ask “where is the newborn king of the Jews?” Luke shows us: ‘there on the cross’.
 
The Good Thief: Understanding the Kingdom
 
But we also find in this Gospel one of the most beautiful moments in all of Scripture. The second criminal, whom tradition calls Dismas, the "Good Thief," sees what no one else can see. Hanging on his own cross, dying his own death, he recognizes the King.
 
"Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
 
He sees that the bleeding, dying man next to him is a King with a Kingdom. He acknowledged that while he deserved his punishment, he saw that Jesus, though innocent, didn’t condemn, curse or vow revenge against his persecutors. Instead, he forgave: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
 
This ‘Good Thief’ understood that this is not a kingdom built on power over others, but on love that gives itself away. This King reigns not by taking life, but by laying down his own.
 
And Jesus responds with words that must have shocked everyone who heard them: "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
 
At that moment, not after years of penance, not after proving himself worthy, he became the first citizen of the Kingdom.
¡Viva Cristo Rey!
 
What Kind of King?
 
This Gospel forces us to ask: What kind of King is this? What kind of Kingdom is he establishing?
 
Christ's Kingdom is not built on military might, economic power, or political manipulation. It's built on love, mercy, service,and sacrifice. His throne is a cross, His crown is thorns, His royal robe is his own flowing blood.
 
Jesus turned every human understanding of power upside down. As he told Pilate in John's Gospel: "My kingdom does not belong to this world."
 
In Christ’s Kingdom it is not about the love of power but rather the power of love.
 
The Meaning for Us Today
 
So what does this feast mean for us today, in 2025? It is just as urgent and challenging now as it was 100 years ago in 1925. It seems that outside of technology, nothing much has changed in the human condition.
 
We live in a world with many competing kings, many voices demanding our ultimate allegiance. Our culture says: pledge yourself to your political party, your nation, your ideology, your career, your comfort, your self-fulfillment. We are told that power, wealth, success, and control are what matter.
 
But the Solemnity of Christ the King calls us to a different allegiance. To proclaim "Christ is King" today is to say:

• My comfort and self-interest don't dictate my choices but Christ's call to love and sacrifice does.
• My career and financial success are not my ultimate purpose but serving Christ's Kingdom is.
• My political party does not have ultimate authority over my conscience, only Christ does.
• My nation's interests do not go above God's justice but Christ's law of love and mercy does.

 
It means that when we face moral choices, we ask not "What's in it for me?" but "What would my King have me do?"
 
It means that we treat every person: especially the poor, the marginalized, the unborn, the immigrant, the prisoner as an equal member of infinite worth in Christ's Kingdom.
 
It means we measure success not by worldly standards but by how faithfully we serve.
 
It means we're willing to suffer, if necessary, rather than compromise our allegiance to Christ.
 
Like the Good Thief, like 14 year old Saint José Sánchez del Río, like countless martyrs, we declare "Viva Cristo Rey!" even when it costs us something. Yes, brothers and sisters, today at the end of our liturgical year, we're reminded that the kingdoms of this world will pass away, empires will fall, ideologies fade.
 
But we will proclaim in our Creed: His (Christ's) Kingdom will have no end.
 
The question we must ask ourselves today is simple but challenging: Who is your king? Who sits on the throne of your heart?
 
As we prepare to receive Jesus in the Eucharist;  our King who comes to us not in power but in humility, in the form of humble bread and wine, let our ‘amen’ be our pledge of loyalty. Let us confirm it with our lives, living the Gospel of love.
 
¡Viva Cristo Rey! Long live Christ the King!
 
Amen.