By: Jennifer E. Miller, S.T.D., Professor of Moral Theology
Angelus
On this last Sunday of the liturgical year, we celebrate the solemnity of the Christ the King. And the Gospel of today leads us to contemplate Jesus as he presents himself to Pilate as king of a kingdom that “is not of this world” (Jn 18:36). This does not mean that Christ is a king of another world, but that he is king in another mode, while also king in this world. Here is a juxtaposition between these two kinds of logic. The worldly logic rests upon ambition, on competition, battles with the arms of fear, of extortion, and of the manipulation of consciences. The logic of the Gospel, that is the logic of Jesus, is expressed instead in humility and in gratuitousness, it is affirmed silently but efficaciously with the strength of the truth. The kingdom of this world at times is borne up by tyrannies, rivalry, oppression; the kingdom of Christ is a “kingdom of justice, of love and of peace” (Preface).
When does Jesus reveal Himself as king? In the event of the Cross! He who looks at the Cross of Christ cannot avoid seeing the surprising gratuitousness of love. One of you might say: “But, Father, this was a failure!”. And precisely in the failure of sin – sin is a failure – in the failure of human ambitions, in that moment there is the triumph of the Cross, there is the gratuitousness of love. In the failure of the Cross one sees love, this love that is gratuitous, that Jesus gives us. Speaking of power and strength, for the Christian, means to refer to the power of the Cross and the strength of the love of Jesus: a love that remains steadfast and incorruptible, even when facing refusal, and that appears as the fulfillment of a life spent in the total offering of self in favor of humanity. Upon Calvary, the passersby and the leaders deride Jesus nailed upon the cross, and they launch the challenge: “Save yourself by coming down from the cross!” (Mk 15:30) “Save yourself!”. But paradoxically the truth of Jesus is precisely that which his adversaries fling at him in scornful voices: “You cannot save yourself!” (v. 31). If Jesus had come down from the cross, He would have ceded to the temptation of the prince of this world; instead, He cannot save himself precisely so as to be able to save others, precisely because He gave His life for us, for each one of us. To say: “Jesus gave His life for the world” is true, but it is more beautiful to say: “Jesus gave His life for me”. And today, here in the square, each one of us may say in his heart: “He gave His life for me”, in order to save each one of us from our sins.
And who understood this? It was understood well by one of the criminals who was crucified with Him, called the “good thief”, who pleads with Him: “Jesus, remember me when you enter into your kingdom” (Lk 23:42). But this was a criminal, a corrupt person and he was there, condemned to death, precisely for all of the viciousness that he had performed in his life. But he had seen love in the attitude of Jesus, in the meekness of Jesus. And this is the strength of the kingdom of Christ: it is love. For this reason, the kingship of Jesus does not oppress us, but liberates us from our weaknesses and miseries, encouraging us to travel the streets of good, of reconciliation, and of forgiveness. Let us look at the Cross of Jesus, let us look at the good thief and say all together that which the good thief said: “Jesus, remember me when you enter into your kingdom”. All together, “Jesus, remember me when you enter into your kingdom”. To ask Jesus, when we see ourselves as weak, sinners, defeated, to look at us and to say: “You are there. Do not forget me!”.
Faced with the many lacerations in the world and the excessive wounds in the flesh of men, let us ask the Virgin Mary to sustain us in our commitment to imitate Jesus, our king, making present His kingdom with gestures of tenderness, of comprehension, and of mercy.
About the Author: Jennifer E. Miller, S.T.D., Professor of Moral Theology
Cajun by birth, Dr. Jennifer E. Miller comes from the Lafayette area. She earned her BA in theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2002, after which she worked for two years in youth ministry in the Ville Platte area of southern Louisiana.
Travelling to Rome to complete her studies, she earned an STB at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in 2007 and an STL in moral theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in 2009. After a year of postgraduate studies at the John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, Dr. Miller began work on a doctorate in Catholic Social Doctrine at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. During this time, she also worked as assistant to Msgr. Martin Schlag, consultor to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and as the Directress of Studies at the Markets, Culture and Ethics Research Centre, an interdisciplinary research center between philosophy, theology, and economics that seeks to encourage and promote the virtuous culture necessary for an ethical economic system. Her STD was completed in 2013, with a thesis critiquing and reformulating Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach in light of the principle of subsidiarity and the family.
Dr. Miller has previously taught moral theology at the Aquinas Institute in Lafayette, Louisiana and was involved in teaching at Christendom College’s Rome Campus and at the Institute of Higher Religious Studies at the Apollinare (ISSRA), located at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. She has taught and published both in English and in Italian. Dr. Miller believes that the moral life is best lived when it is understood as the call to holiness, to the beauty of the virtuous life in Christ directed towards beatitude, rather than as a system of exterior rules and obligations; she seeks to impart this understanding and this way of living the moral life to her students.
Jennifer E. Miller, S.T.D.
Office Location
St. Joseph Hall – Room 109
Contact
Email: jmiller@nds.edu
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