IN his recent podcast, “The Light of Faith,” my college classmate, Archbishop Socrates Villegas, of the Archdiocese of Lingayen, Pangasinan, explains the positions and titles in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. He talks about the orders of deacon, priest and bishop and the titles of Monsignor, Archbishop and Cardinal. In the end, he says that all these titles are nothing without love. He states: “If I’m a priest without love, I am nothing. If I’m a bishop without love, I am nothing. If they are Monsignors, Archbishops, and Cardinal without love, they are nothing.”
Absolutely, all positions and titles in the Church don’t mean anything if they are not carried out in love, mercy, and justice, if they don’t stand for the values of the Kingdom and the Kingship of Jesus.
Last Sunday, at the end of the liturgical year, we honored Jesus with the title of a King. It’s a supreme title that we, the Church, have given to him, isn’t it? But I bet you, Jesus would be the first one to say that this title does not mean anything to his Father and to us if he did not carry his mission on earth with love, mercy, compassion, and justice for all!
A deck of cards carries several images of a King: King of Clubs, King of Spades, King of Diamonds, and King of Hearts.
Jesus is absolutely not the King of Clubs because his Kingdom is not a Kingdom of violence, terror, hostility and misuse of power. He is the King of peace!
Jesus is not the King of Spades because he came not to put dirt on our lives but to purify us and to resurrect us, to give us new life! He came to bring dignity to every man, woman, and child.
Nor he is the King of Diamonds because his Kingdom is not about accumulating wealth for one’s own sake, but about distributing wealth to the poor. His Kingdom is about blessing the poverty of our hearts: Blesses are the poor in spirit.
If Jesus is not the King of Clubs, Spades, and Diamonds, he is the then the King of Hearts because of his unconditional love for everyone, saints and sinners.
Jesus’s Kingdom of Hearts is what our world needs now more than ever because it is beset by so much violence, arrogance, hatred, and terrorism.
If you have seen the television interview with Antoine Leiris, the Frenchman who lost his wife at the Bataclan during the ISIS Paris attack, you would have been deeply touched by his words that have become viral on the Internet. Addressing the ISIS attackers he said these words: “Friday night, you took an exceptional life—the love of my life, the mother of my son—but you will not have my hatred…my son who is just 17month old will eat his snacks like everyday and we will play like everyday, and he will insult you everyday with his happiness and freedom because you don’t have his hatred either.”
In the Gospel of John, Jesus is the confident and courageous person who won’t let his Kingdom be compromised and weakened by the values of this material world and the terrorism of misguided people. May we never give in to hatred! May we be confident and not afraid to keep building his Kingdom of Love, Mercy, Peace and Justice here on earth!
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From a Filipino immigrant family, Reverend Rodel G. Balagtas was ordained to the priesthood from St. John’s Seminary in 1991. He served as Associate Pastor at St. Augustine, Culver City (1991-1993); St. Martha, Valinda (1993-1999); and St. Joseph the Worker, Canoga Park (1999-2001). In 2001, he served as Administrator Pro Tem of St. John Neumann in Santa Maria, CA, until his appointment as pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Los Angeles, in 2002, which lasted 12 years. His term as Associate Director of Pastoral Field Education at St. John’s Seminary began in July 2014.
