First Reading: Daniel 7, 13-14
Psalm 92
Second Reading: Revelations 1, 5-8
Gospel Reading: John 18, 33-37

Already during the annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to Mary, her son was acclaimed King, the King, God promised his people and whom the people were awaiing with joy and trepidation: "the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end." (Luke 1, 32). Jesus later spoke of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of which he knew he was heir and therefore, was able to promise his disciples that they would participate in his service: "I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom………that you may sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Luke 22, 29).

The kingdom of which Jesus speaks is the kingdom of God, a reality that cannot be compared with human kingdoms. Rulers on earth dominate their subjects and use their power over them, Jesus would say, but not those who were to have authority in his kingdom. He himself, was a King who had come to serve, who would give his life to save all! Today we see him standing before Pilate, a representative of that kind of authority which crushed entire nations under the weight of it's undisputed and fierce rule. To this very authority Jesus declared that he had no desire to compete with it on the same level. He did not need the support of man's weapons. He had no desire to impose himself and whoever wished to submit to him was free to do so with love, with that love which knows how to listen!

Jesus accepts the title of king, but explains that it is not as men have, in general understood it. He is king because he came to the world "to testify to the truth"!

We know that Pilate did not try to understand the word, truth. Let us try to penetrate it's meaning. The truth is what is "no longer hidden", what has "come to the light". Our God was hidden, nobody has seen him nor will anyone be able to see him. With the coming of Christ to the world, God became manifest, he came to the light and was no longer "hidden for ages" (Col 1, 26). Jesus himself is the light which shows the face of the Father, the Word that reveals the thoughts, the Life that communicates the fullness of love! Jesus came to "testify to the truth": his life made visible to human eyes the beauty and the immensity of God's free love, of his holiness, of his mercy! This is why many who come "from the truth", listen to his voice, follow him and love him. The dignity of Jesus appeals to the heart of man, because everyone realizes that he is worthy of being followed, that in obeying him, we become free, we are comforted, we grow and our lives are made precious and useful!

St John at the beginning of the Book of Revelations presents Jesus as the faithful witness and the ruler of kings on earth! Everyone will change before him; even "those who pierced him will wail on account of him", that is, they will repent of their hostility towards him, because they will realize that they had been deceived and in doing what they had done, they were preventing humanity's true progress.

Today we praise and bless our King: in praise and blessing our joy and community grows, the kingdom becomes more beautiful and attracts even those who watch from without. We praise Jesus and try to do so not only with words and song, but above all, with all our actions. Jesus is the King who gives his own life: we live in his Kingdom, becoming loving servants to our brothers and sisters, to everyone, so that they too can feel kindness and see the light of our Lord, the true benefactor of man.

The prophet Daniel saw the greatness of Jesus' Kingdom, a Kingdom which will not pass away: we know the truth of this because all those who are part of it, enter freely and remain with joy being served by our Lord and serving him every day without fear and with great satisfaction. Many of the so-called "great" names of history have tried and continue to try and destroy the Kingdom of Jesus: they only succeed in purifying it of those who participate with selfish or egoistical intentions and in further illuminating the strength and the beauty and the love on which it is founded!

Glory be to thee our Lord and King, our servant and benefactor, Jesus!