Celebrations allow opportunity for examination of conscience

As we enter the month of November, a month in the Church’s year of grace and favor from the Lord dedicated to All Saints (November 1) and All Souls (November 2), it is also the month when most frequently the Church’s year ends.

This November, Sunday, November 20, marks the final Sunday and week of the Church’s year with the celebration of the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, or Christ the King.

In a certain sense, the Solemnity of All Saints, the Feast of All Souls and the Solemnity of Christ the King form bookends for all the other memorials and feasts in the month of November. These three, however, are very much related to one another and provide us with much for our personal meditation and our frequent examination of conscience.

In the first place, all three celebrations refer us back to both the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed. In both creeds, the Lord Jesus is prominently professed to be our Savior King and His holy throne is the Cross. Our faith in the communion of saints, another article of the creed includes all the known and unknown saints in heaven, the poor souls in purgatory who, in God’s providence, will go to heaven, and all of us who are alive and living our faith to the best of our abilities in the hope of achieving heaven when the Lord calls us to Himself.

It is that moment of death for each of us which is not the end but the transition to eternity in which we encounter Christ the King as our just and merciful Judge and receive from Him our particular judgment. Jesus told Pontius Pilate that He is a king but that His kingdom is not of this world, it is not like the petty kingdoms and nations that rise and fall and are so corrupt and unjust (Jn 18: 36-38). The kingdom over which Jesus is the just Sovereign is the kingdom of truth and all who believe in Him, Truth incarnate, and follow Him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, belong to Him and to His kingdom.

However, we cannot take credit for any of this because we have not earned it, nor do we deserve it. It is only owing to the loving mercy of God that we belong to His kingdom, but it is also our responsibility not to lose His kingdom. That is why I said these celebrations give us much to meditate on and with which to examine our consciences.

The month of November reminds us of our mortality, that is, that each of us will die. However, November reminds us of who we are as the beloved children of God and why we are the beloved children of God. Be sure to attend and participate at Holy Mass on these three days and as often as possible throughout November.