One of the criminals that were hung along with the Lord asked: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”. This Gospel account reminds us that Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world: Jesus and the two criminals were about to leave this world at that moment. This fundamental truth tunes us to the hope of eternal life. Today when we celebrate the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, the liturgy emphasizes that all creation is to be restored in Christ the King. This solemnity was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1921 in the midst of the rise of European secularism when even many Christians began questioning Christ’s existence and the Church’s power to continue Christ’s authority and mission. This denial of Christ and Christian faith has been continued for many years under various names and masks but its purpose remains the same: to remove the Lord from people’s hearts and minds and to make them ashamed to speak of their faith.

This Saturday, November 30th, we observe the Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle with a Mass celebrated at 10 am. He was a brother of Simon whom Jesus called Peter. According to the Gospel of St. John, Andrew at once recognized Jesus as the Messiah, and hastened to bring his brother Simon to Jesus. The Byzantine Church honours St. Andrew with the name Protokletos, which means ‘the first called’. St. Andrew is said to preach the Gospel in the territories that now belong to Greece and Turkey and to be martyred on the X-shaped cross at the city of Patras. That cross is now commonly known as St. Andrew’s Cross and we can see it in many places, for example, on the Scottish flag and at the intersections where a railway line crosses a road as a warning sign.
St. Andrew, the Apostle – pray for us!

God bless,
Fr. Peter