“To Restore All Things in Christ”: Catholic Social Teaching and the Mission of the Order of Malta

New Jersey Area of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Malta
Church of Christ the King
Morristown, New Jersey

It brings me great joy to speak with you, fellow Knights and Dames of Malta, and other brothers and sisters in Christ. I thank you for the invitation and for all that you have done to make my presence with you possible. I thank, in particular, His Excellency, Bishop Kevin Sweeney, Bishop of Paterson, for his warm welcome and for his presence. I thank also Father Brian Sullivan, Pastor of Christ the King Church, for hosting our evening together. Finally, I thank, in a special way, Christine Myers and Karol Corbin Walker, Dames of Malta and New Jersey Area Co-Chairs, for all their labors in preparing for tonight’s program. In thanking them, I thank also Marina Perna, Dame of Malta, Chair of the Defense of the Faith Committee, for first proposing to me a doctrinal presentation to the New Jersey Area Knights and Dames of Malta and for her work in preparation for this evening.

I address tonight a fundamental aspect of our life in the Church, namely, the witness to Christ alive with us in the Church, in the souls of the baptized, for the salvation of the world. The Christian mission, which belongs to us all, is served in an extraordinary way by the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta. The defense of the Faith (tuitio Fidei) and the care of the poor (obsequium pauperum), the mission of the Order, constitutes the fundamental witness which every baptized Christian is called to exercise. In this way, the Christian chivalry of the Knights and Dames of the Order is an example to all in the Church and a help to them in fulfilling their mission.

In these days of ever greater confusion, error and division in the Church, many faithful feel abandoned and even betrayed. But we must never forget that Christ is the true Head of the Church and that the Roman Pontiff and the Bishops in communion with him, and the priests, the principal co-workers of the Bishops, serve us faithfully to the degree that they serve Him obediently in all things. Thus, by their office of teachers of the faith, priests of Divine Worship, and guardians of sound discipline, they lead us to Christ and help us to grow ever more in our knowledge, love and service of Him. Our Order gives us a good and just way to deal with the confusion, error and division of the time without giving way to it. It is an excellent means for us to assist and encourage one another to “fight the good fight,” “to stay the course,” and “to keep the faith,” in the words of Saint Paul.[1]

“To restore all things in Christ” – “Instaurare omnia in Christo” – , words taken from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, was the motto of Pope Saint Pius X upon whom Christ conferred the office of Saint Peter at a time of tremendous turmoil in the world and in the Church.[2] They refer to the order and peace, the eternal salvation, for which God the Father sent His only-begotten Son to take our human nature and to suffer, die, rise from the dead and ascend to the right hand of Father. They refer to the Mystery of Faith, which assures us that Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father in glory, remains with us on earth, pouring forth, from His glorious pierced Heart, without measure and without cease, the sevenfold gift of the Holy Spirit upon His Mystical Body, the Church, that is, into human hearts.

Pope Benedict XVI, in his discourse at the Wednesday General Audience on December 5, 2012, discussed the meaning of the verb, instaurare, which describes the purpose of the Redemptive Incarnation. He declared:

… [T]he Apostle speaks more precisely of the recapitulation of the universe in Christ. This means that in the great plan of creation and of history, Christ stands as the focus of the entire journey of the world, as the structural support of all things, and attracts to himself the entire reality in order to overcome dispersion and limitation and [to] lead all things to the fullness desired by God (Eph 1:23).[3]

The sense of the verb is clear from the text from which the phrase is taken.

The text is part of the hymn of praise of God and of thanksgiving to Him, with which the Letter to the Ephesians begins. Praising God the Father for having chosen us in Christ, for having adopted us as His true sons and daughters in His only-begotten Son Incarnate, the text declares, in the translation of the Revised Standard Version:

In him [Our Lord Jesus Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.[4]

In short, in Christ is realized the right order of all things, the union of heaven and earth, as God the Father intended from the beginning. Christ conquers the disorder introduced into the world by the sin of man, by the rebellion of our First Parents against the will of God for us and for the world. Disobeying God, our First Parents thought, according to the deception and wrong affection introduced into their minds and hearts by Satan, to take the place of God. It is the obedience of God the Son Incarnate which reestablishes, restores, the original communion of man with God and, therefore, peace in the world. His obedience unites once again all things, “things in heaven and things on earth.”[5]

It is the Mystery of Faith which teaches us the Kingship of Christ. We consider the incomparable reality of Christ – the two natures, human and divine, in the one person of God the Son – under different aspects, referring to Christ by various titles, for example, Son of God and Son of Mary, Good Shepherd, Eternal High Priest, Teacher, Eternal Lawgiver, and so forth. In fact, the great mystery of the Redemptive Incarnation of God the Son is so great that we can only attempt to understand it by the use of various analogies, pointing to the incomparable reality but never fully expressing it.

Pope Pius XI, in the Encyclical Letter, Quas Primas, by which he established “the feast of the Kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ to be observed yearly throughout the whole world,”[6] observed:

It is not necessary, Venerable Brothers, that We should explain to you at any length why We have decreed that this feast of the Kingship of Christ should be observed in addition to those other feasts in which his kingly dignity is already signified and celebrated. It will suffice to remark that although in all the feasts of our Lord the material object of worship is Christ, nevertheless their formal object is something quite distinct from his royal title and dignity. We have commanded its observance on a Sunday in order that not only the clergy may perform their duty by saying Mass and reciting the Office but that the laity too, free from their daily tasks, may in a spirit of holy joy give ample testimony of their obedience and subjection to Christ… Make it your duty and your task, Venerable Brethren, to see that sermons are preached to the people in every parish to teach them the meaning and the importance of this feast, that they may so order their lives as to be worthy of faithful and obedient subjects of the Divine King.[7]

The liturgical observance of the Feast of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ gives the grace of a more perfect obedience to Him alone Who is our Savior, Him alone Who is “the way, the truth, and the life.”[8]

While the Church had always acclaimed Christ to be King of Heaven and Earth, in accord with the Divine Revelation[9] and, above all, in accord with the word of Christ Himself,[10] why did Pope Pius XI deem it important to provide a particular liturgical observance of the reality of Christ’s Kingship? He speaks about the inspiration which was his at the conclusion of the canonization of six confessors and virgins during the year 1925.[11] He states that he was also inspired by the sixteenth centenary of the Council of Nicaea, also observed in 1925, which “defined and proposed for Catholic belief the dogma of the Consubstantiality of the Only-begotten with the Father, and added to the Creed the words ‘of whose kingdom there shall be no end,’ thereby affirming the kingly dignity of Christ.”[12]

As Shepherd of the universal Church, referring to the Te Deum sung at the conclusion of the Rite of Canonization and, in particular to the words, “Tu Rex gloriae Christe” – “You, Christ, King of glory,” he wrote:

It was a great joy, a great consolation, that filled Our heart when in the majestic basilica of St. Peter Our decree was acclaimed by an immense multitude with the hymn of thanksgiving, Tu Rex gloriae, Christe. We saw men and nations cut off from God, stirring up strife and discord and hurrying along the road to ruin and death, while the Church of God carries on her work of providing food for the spiritual life of men, nurturing and fostering generation after generation of men and women dedicated to Christ, faithful and subject to him in his earthly kingdom, called by him to eternal bliss in the kingdom of heaven.[13]

The Roman Pontiff saw in the heroic virtue of the newly canonized saints, in their obedience to the will of the Father, an obedience lived in Christ, the response to the situation of growing secularization, materialism and relativism – all inimical to the love of God – in the world. We cannot fail to observe that the situation of rebellion against Christ and His Law, which Pope Pius XI described in 1925, has only grown worse in our time. What is more, it attempts ever more to infiltrate the life of the Church herself and to corrupt the Bride of Christ, to lead her into grievous infidelity, by an apostasy from the Apostolic Faith.

Pope Pius XI then expressed the great reality of the Kingship of Christ as it has always been understood in the Church. He declared:

It has long been a common custom to give to Christ the [metaphorical] title of “King,” because of the high degree of perfection whereby he excels all creatures. So he is said to reign “in the hearts of men,” both by reason of the keenness of his intellect and the extent of his knowledge, and also because he is very truth, and it is from him that truth must be obediently received by all mankind. He reigns, too, in the wills of men, for in him the human will was perfectly and entirely obedient to the Holy Will of God, and further by his grace and inspiration he so subjects our free-will as to incite us to the most noble endeavors. He is King of hearts, too, by reason of his “charity which exceedeth all knowledge.” And his mercy and kindness which draw all men to him, for never has it been known, nor will it ever be, that man be loved so much and so universally as Jesus Christ.

But if we ponder this matter more deeply, we cannot but see that the title and the power of King belongs to Christ as man in the strict and proper sense too. For it is only as man that he may be said to have received from the Father “power and glory and a kingdom,” since the Word of God, as consubstantial with the Father, has all things in common with him, and therefore has necessarily supreme and absolute dominion over all things created.[14]

The understanding of the Kingship of Christ is intimately tied to the understanding of His Most Sacred Heart. In virtue of the consubstantial union of the Heart of Jesus – human and divine – with the Divine Heart of the Father, He reigns over all hearts. He purifies and sanctifies all hearts with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit from His glorious pierced Heart.

The Kingship of Christ clearly extends to the individual human heart. His Kingship demands the obedience which frees the individual to become all that God has created him or her to be. In his first Encyclical Letter, Redemptor Hominis, Pope Saint John Paul II refers to the reality of Christ’s Kingship in the human heart. Taking up the discussion of the vocation of man in Christ, especially as it was treated in the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, he gives particular attention to its kingly nature. He writes:

To present all the riches of the Council’s teaching we would here have to make reference to numerous chapters and paragraphs of the Constitution Lumen Gentium and of many other documents by the Council. However, one element seems to stand out in the midst of all these riches: the sharing in Christ’s kingly mission, that is to say the fact of rediscovering in oneself and others the special dignity of our vocation that can be described as “kingship”. This dignity is expressed in readiness to serve, in keeping with the example of Christ, who “came not to be served but to serve.” If, in the light of this attitude of Christ’s, “being a king” is truly possible only by “being a servant” then “being a servant” also demands so much spiritual maturity that it must really be described as “being a king”. In order to be able to serve others worthily and effectively we must be able to master ourselves, possess the virtues that make this mastery possible. Our sharing in Christ’s kingly mission – his “kingly [office]” (munus) is closely linked with every sphere of both Christian and human morality.[15]

The Kingship of Christ over human hearts is not some ideal to which all are called but only a few can attain. It is, rather, a reality of divine grace which helps even the weakest and the most tried human subject to attain a heroic degree of virtue, if he or she only cooperates with divine grace.

The Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, “On the Church,” of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council sets forth the perennial teaching of the Church on the Kingship of Christ and the participation of all of the faithful in His kingly mission with these words:

Christ, made obedient unto death and because of this exalted by the Father (cf. Ph. 2:8-9), has entered into the glory of his kingdom. All things are subjected to him until he subjects himself and all created things to the Father, so that God may be all in all (cf. 1 Cor. 15:27-28). He communicated this power to the disciples that they be constituted in royal liberty and, by self-abnegation of a holy life, overcome the reign of sin in themselves (cf. Rom. 6:12) – that indeed by serving Christ in others they may in humility and patience bring their brethren to that king to serve whom is to reign.[16]

It is to this text that Pope Saint John Paul II principally refers. In the economy of grace, by the Mystery of Faith, we most show the nobility of human nature when we are united with Christ in the outpouring of His pure and selfless love.

The Kingship of Christ over human hearts is exercised, most of all, through the conscience, “the voice of God” expressing His law written upon every human heart. The conscience, therefore, is not, as is often falsely understood and stated today, formed by the thoughts and desires of the individual but by the truth which ever purifies individual thoughts and desires, and directs them in conformity with the law of love of God and neighbor. Obedience to the Kingship of Christ is expressed by the resolve and effort to conform all of one’s thinking and speaking and acting to Christ alive for us in the living Apostolic Tradition.

The Kingship of Christ is, by nature, universal, that is, it extends to all men, to the whole world. It is not a kingship over only the faithful or over only the things of the Church, but over all men and over all of their affairs. The Kingship is exercised from the Heart of Christ in human hearts. It does not pretend to govern directly the world but to govern it through man, the steward of the world. Pope Pius XI, quoting Pope Leo XIII, declared:

It would be a grave error, on the other hand, to say that Christ has no authority whatever in civil affairs, since, by virtue of the absolute empire over all creatures committed to him by the Father, all things are in his power. Nevertheless, during his life on earth he refrained from the exercise of such authority, and although he himself disdained to possess or to care for earthly goods, he did not, nor does he today, interfere with those who possess them. Non eripit mortalia qui regna dat celestia. [“He who gives heavenly kingdoms does not take away earthly kingdoms”].

Thus the empire of our Redeemer embraces all men. To use the words of Our immortal predecessor, Pope Leo XIII: “His empire includes not only Catholic nations, not only baptized persons who, though of right belonging to the Church, have been led astray by error or have been cut off from her by schism, but also those who are outside the Christian faith. So that truly the whole of mankind is subject to the power of Jesus Christ.

All men, whether collectively or individually, are subject to Christ.” Nor is there any difference in this matter between the individual and the family or the State; for all men, whether collectively or individually, are under the dominion of Christ. In him is the salvation of the individual, in him is the salvation of society. “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved.” He is the author of happiness and true prosperity for every man and for every nation. “For a nation is happy when its citizens are happy. What else is a nation but a number of men living in concord?”[17]

Christians, who do not pretend to govern the civil state by means of the Church – a fundamental difference between Christianity and Islam – , are, at the same time, called to give a heroic public witness to the truth of the moral law, of the law of God. Thus, Christ’s Kingship is exercised by hearts one with His Royal Heart.

Pope Pius XI makes reference to Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical Letter Annum Sacrum by which Pope Leo consecrated all of humanity to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In Annum Sacrum, Pope Leo, referring to the sovereign and absolute power of Christ, declared:

And verily He has acted on this extraordinary and peculiar right when He commanded His Apostles to preach His doctrine over the earth, to gather all men together into the one body of the Church by the Baptism of salvation, and to bind them by laws, which no one could reject without risking his eternal salvation.[18]

Christ exercises His Kingship through the grace of the Holy Spirit which He unstintingly and unfailingly pours into the hearts of His faithful who are His co-workers in the mission of the salvation of the world. They are the stewards of His divine right in virtue of His grace dwelling within their hearts.

Here, it is important to note that the Kingship of Christ over human hearts is prior in being to any state or government. The state or government, in fact, must, first and foremost respect the freedom of religion, the freedom of man in His relationship with God, which has its most fundamental expression in the freedom of conscience. In fact, the State depends upon religion for its right ordering. Anthony Esolen, in his book, Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching: A Defense of the Church’s True Teachings on Marriage, Family, and the State, quoting the Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum of Pope Leo XIII, observed:

Above all, Pope Leo reminds us that without the virtue of religion, the State becomes little more than a compact of selfishness and sensuality, not worthy of human allegiance. As to poverty and rapacity, “religion alone,” says the Pope, “can avail to destroy the evil at its root,” so that “all men should rest persuaded that the main thing needful is to return to real Christianity, apart from which all the plans and devices of the wisest will prove of little avail” (RN, 247).[19]

A healthy State or nation will treasure, in a particular way, the practice of the Christian religion as essential to the right order of homes and of the wider society.

Likewise, the fundamental rights of man in society – and I am not talking about the ever-growing number of so-called rights invented to promote the secularization of all life – are prior to the State, have their ground in the analogy of being, in the participation of man in the Being of God, in His Truth, Beauty and Goodness. Pope Leo XIII made clear that the family is “a true society, and one older than any State” and that “[c]onsequently, it has rights and duties peculiar to itself which are quite independent of the State.”[20] Those rights and duties are inherent to the nature of man, male and female, which leads the individual man and individual woman to marriage and its fruit, the family. The Kingship of Christ in the home frees the members of the family and the family as a society to enjoy those rights and fulfill those duties, in accord with the will of God. The universality of the Kingship of Christ is reflected by the practice of enthroning the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the home, and in the other places of our human endeavor.

The essentially social nature of the Kingship of Christ is evident. The individual soul exists always in relationship with God and with others, beginning in the family and extending to the state or nation and to the world. The obedience of the human heart to the Heart of Christ places the individual not only in a right relationship with God but also with all men whom He desires to save, for whom the Heart of Christ never ceases to beat with immeasurable and unceasing love.

The social nature of the Kingship of Christ is seen most fully in the Eucharistic Sacrifice by which Christ makes sacramentally present His death on Calvary, in order to share with man the incomparable fruit of His Sacrifice: His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, offered as the spiritual sustenance for man’s earthly pilgrimage home to the Kingdom of Heaven. It is through the Eucharistic Sacrifice, a supreme gift of God and not an invention of man, that the individual human heart is offered in pure and selfless love of God and neighbor.

Regarding the Holy Eucharist and social justice, Anthony Esolen observed:

Jesus tells us that He alone is the bread of life, that He alone has living water to give. He is the Good Shepherd; if we have Him, there is nothing else we shall want. We do not look for shepherds elsewhere. We do not bow down to political ideologies or systems. We do not expect salvation from presentiments of the great new earth to come. We do not worship the supposedly inevitable march of history. We do not worship an emperor, whatever his name may be.[21]

Participation in the Eucharistic Sacrifice is the most perfect and efficacious means of the transformation of human hearts through union with the Heart of Christ, through submission to His Kingship of pure and selfless love.

Quoting Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical Letter Mirae Caritatis, “On the Holy Eucharist,” Esolen underlines Christ’s perfect exercise of His Kingship in the Holy Eucharist:

When a child sees, as I have seen, a man of the most powerful scientific intellect kneel in adoration before the Lord, present in the tabernacle, with the flame in the red sanctuary lamp flickering, it is as Leo says, “the mind finds its nourishment, the objections of rationalists are brought to naught, and abundant light is thrown on the supernatural order” (MC, 524). If earthly nature is all there is, then this world is a wilderness, and only greater cunning separates man from beast. But “the earth is the LORD’S, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1). He, the Lord of nature, in the miracle of the Eucharist, suspends the laws of that nature and has confirmed that miracle by “prodigies wrought in His honor, both in ancient times and in our own, of which in more than one place there exist public and notable records and memorials.”[22]

One thinks of the richness of Eucharistic miracles all along the Christian centuries, granted by Our Lord to confirm and to illuminate the Kingship of His glorious pierced Heart.

When we reflect upon the rebellion against the good order and peace with which God endows every human heart, especially through the conscience, leading the world and even the Church into ever greater confusion, division, destruction of others and of self, we understand, as Pope Pius XI understood, the importance of our worship of Christ under His title of King of Heaven and Earth. Such worship is not a form of ideology. It is not the worship of an idea or an ideal. It is communion with Christ the King, especially through the Most Holy Eucharist, by which our own royal mission in Him is understood, embraced, and lived. It is the reality in which we are called to live, the reality of obedience to the Law of God written upon our hearts and into the very nature of all things. It is the reality to which our conscience unfailingly calls us to conform our being and according to which it also judges our thoughts, words and actions. It is the reality of our dignity in Christ and of the high mission inherent in that dignity.

The Virgin Mother of God appeared on our continent from December 9^th through 12^th of 1531, during a tumult of massive human sacrifice and of deadly conflict between native Americans and Spanish explorers and settlers in the place of her apparition, present-day Mexico City. She appeared to manifest to her children, to us, the forgiveness and mercy of God made incarnate in her Divine Son, Christ, true God and true man. She faithfully leads us to her Divine Son, order that we may know, love and serve Him at all times. She manifests to us the great mystery of Christ alive in His Church, in the hearts of all the baptized, to purify them of sin and to fortify them with divine truth and love. It will not surprise us that the cry of the faithful Catholics of Mexico, especially of the Mexican Martyrs during the bloody persecution in the first part of the last century, for example, Blessed Padre Miguel Pro and Saint José Sánchez del Río, was: ¡Viva Cristo Rey! ¡Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe! Long live Christ the King! Long live the Virgin of Guadalupe!

Pope Saint John Paul II, in his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in America, instructs us that Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Mother of all of America, leading us to the truth and love of Christ in these most challenging and threatening times. Taking inspiration from the teaching of the great Roman Pontiff, I founded a place of pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadalupe at La Crosse, Wisconsin, which God has richly blessed and richly blesses. There, Our Lady is bringing some 85,000 pilgrims a year to her Divine Son, in order that they may encounter Him. She brings pilgrims to her Son, in order that He may reign in their hearts from His glorious pierced Heart, forgiving their sins and inflaming them with Divine Love.

By means of a pilgrimage, we leave the ordinary circumstances of our daily life and thus discover the extraordinary nature of our ordinary life because Christ dwells in our hearts. Speaking to you, this evening, I invite you to make a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe at La Crosse, so that you may discover anew the extraordinary nature of your ordinary life and may make your own the acclamation of the Mexican Martyrs: ¡Viva Cristo Rey! ¡Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe! Long live Christ the King! Long live the Virgin of Guadalupe.

I conclude with words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on “[t]he social duty of religion and the right to religious freedom”:

The duty of offering God genuine worship concerns man both individually and socially. This is “the traditional Catholic teaching on the moral duty of individuals and societies toward the true religion and the one Church of Christ.” By constantly evangelizing men, the Church works toward enabling them “to infuse the Christian spirit into the mentality and mores, laws and structures of the communities in which [they] live.” The social duty of Christians is to respect and awaken in each man the love of the true and the good. It requires them to make known the worship of the one true religion which subsists in the Catholic and apostolic Church. Christians are called to be the light of the world. Thus, the Church shows forth the kingship of Christ over all creation and in particular over human societies.[23]

May we, by God’s grace and through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Virgin Mother of God, always give honor to Christ our King and serve Him with obedience in His reign over all human hearts from His glorious pierced Sacred Heart.

Thank you for your kind attention. May God bless you and your homes.

Raymond Leo Cardinal BURKE

[1] 2 Tim 4, 7.

[2] Eph 1, 10.

[3] “L’Apostolo, però, parla più precisamente di ricapitolazione dell’universo in Cristo, e ciò significa che nel grande disegno della creazione e della storia, Cristo si leva come centro dell’intero cammino del mondo, asse portante di tutto, che attira a Sé l’intera realtà, per superare la dispersione e il limite e condurre tutto alla pienezza voluta da Dio (cfr Ef 1, 23).” Insegnamenti di Benedetto XVI, Vol. VIII, 2, 2012 (Città del Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2012), p. 703. English translation: Pope Benedict XVI, “At the General Audience the Pope comments on the Pauline hymn that ushers in Advent,” L’Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, 12 December 2012, p. 11.

[4] Eph 1, 7-10.

[5] Eph 1, 10.

[6] “… festum D. N. Iesu Christi Regis …, quotannis, ubique terrarum agendum.” Pius PP. XI, Litterae Encyclicae Quas primas, “De Festo Domini Nostri Iesu Christi Regis constituendo,” 11 Decembris 1925, Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 17 (1925) 607. [QP]. English translation: http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_11121925_quas-primas.html, pp. 10-11, no. 28. [QPEng].

[7] “Neque est cur vos, Venerabiles Fratres, diu multumque doceamus, qua de causa festum Christi Regis ab reliquis illis distinctum agi decreverimus, in quibus quaedam inesset regiae ipsius dignitatis et significatio et celebratio. Unum enim animadvertere sufficit, quod, quamquam in omnibus Domini nostri festis materiale obiectum, ut aiunt, Christus est, obiectum tamen formale a regia Christi potestate ac nomine omnino secernitur. In diem vero dominicum idcirco indiximus, ut divino Regi non modo clerus litando ac psallendo officia praestaret sua, sed etiam populus, ab usitatis occupationibus vacuus, in spiritu sanctae laetitiae, obedientiae servitutisque suae praaeclarum Christo testimonium daret…. Itaque hoc vestrum, Venerabiles Fratres, esto munus, vestrae hae partes sunto, ut annuae celebritati praemittendas curetis, statis diebus, ad populum e singulis paroeciis contiones, quibus is de rei natura, significatione et momento accurate monitus atque eruditus, sic vitam instituat ac componat, ut iis digna sit, qui divini Regis imperio fideliter studioseque obsequuntur.” QP, 608. English translation: QPEng, p. 11, no. 29.

[8] Jn 14, 6.

[9] Cf., for example, Ps 2, 6-8; Is 9, 6-7; and Lk 1, 32-33.

[10] Cf. Mt 25, 31-32.

[11] Cf. QP, 594.

[12] “… Unigeniti cum Patre consubstantialitatem sanxit ad credendumque catholica fide proposuit, itemque, verba «cuius regni non erit finis» in suam fidei formulam seu Symbolum inserendo, regiam Christi dignitatem affirmavit.” QP, 595. English translation: QPEng, p. 2, no. 5.

[13] “O quantum voluptatis animum Nostrum incessit, quantum solacii, cum, in Petriani templi maiestate, post latas a Nobis decretorias sententias, ab ingenti fidelium multitudine, inter gratiarum actionem, conclamatum est: Tu Rex gloriae, Christe. Namque, dum homines civitatesque a Deo alienae, per concitatas invidiae flammas intestinosque motus, in exitium atque interium aguntur, Ecclesia Dei, pergens spiritualis vitae pabulum humano generi impertire, sanctissimam, aliam ex alia, virorum feminarumque subolem Christo parit atque alit, qui, quos sibi fidissimos in terreno regno subiectos parentesque habuit, eosdem ad aeternam regni caelestis beatitatem advocare non desinit.” QP, 594-595. English translation: QPEng, p. 2, no. 4.

[14] “Ut translata verbi significatione rex appellaretur Christus ob summum excellentiae gradum, quo inter omnes res creatas praestat atque eminet, iam diu communiterque usu venit. Ita enim fit, ut regnare is in mentibus hominum dicatur non tam ob mentis aciem scientiaeque suae amplitudinem, quam quod ipse est Veritas, et veritatem ab eo mortales haurire atque obedienter accipere necesse est; in voluntatibus item hominum, quia non modo sanctitati in eo voluntatis divinae perfecta prorsus respondet humanae integritas atque obtemperatio, sed etiam liberae voluntati nostrae id permotione instinctuque suo subiicit, unde ad nobilissima quaeque exardescamus. Cordium denique rex Christus agnoscitur ob eius supereminentem scientiae caritatem et manusuetudinem benignitatemque animos allicientem: nec enim quemquam usque adeo ab universitate gentium, ut Christum Iesum, aut amari aliquando contigit aut amatum iri in posterum continget. Verum, ut rem pressius ingrediamur, nemo non videt, nomen potestatemque regis, propria quidem verbi significatione, Christo homini vindicari oportere; nam, nisi quatenus homo est, a Patre potestatem et honorem et regnum accepisse dici nequit, quandoquidem Dei Verbum, cui eadem est cum Patre substantia, non potest omnia cum Patre non habere communia, proptereaque ipsum in res creatas universas summum atque absolutissimum imperium.” QP, 595-596. English translation: QPEng, pp. 2-3, no. 7.

[15] “Attamen inter abundantiam istam doctrinarum una pars profecto eminere videtur: participatio regalis muneris Christi, quatenus unusquisque detegit in se et in aliis peculiarem vocationis nostrae dignitatem, quae «regalitas» potest nominari. Haec quidem dignitas monstratur in prompta serviendi alacritate secundum Christi exemplum, qui «non venit ministrari sed ministrare». Si igitur secundum illum Christi habitum vel affectum aliquis «regnare» proprie valet dumtaxat «serviendo», simul postulat illud «serviendi» officium talem maturitatem spiritualem, quae dicenda sit prorsus signifcare aliquem «regnare». Ut quis ideo digne efficaciterque ceteris inserviat, oportet is dominetur in semet ipsum possideatque virtutes, quae permittant, ut ita dominetur. Nostra participatio regalis missionis Christi – illius quidem «muneris regalis» – arcto vinculo cohaeret cum omni regione doctrinae moralis, tam chistianae quam etiam humanae.” Ioannes Paulus PP. II, Litterae Encyclicae Redemptor Hominis, “Pontificali eius Ministerio ineunte,” 4 Martii 1979, Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 71 (1979), 316, n. 21. English translation: Pope John Paul II, Encyclicals (Trivandrum, Kerala, India: Carmel International Publishing House, 2005), p. 1116, no. 21.

[16] “Christus, factus oboediens usque ad mortem et propter hoc a Patre exaltatus (cfr. Phil. 2, 8-9), in gloriam regni sui intravit. Cui omnia subiciuntur, donec Ipse se cunctaque creata Patri subiciat, ut sit Deus omnia in omnibus (cfr. 1 Cor. 15, 27-28). Quam potestatem discipulis communicavit, ut et illi in regali libertate constituantur et sui abnegatione vitaque sancta regnum peccati in seipsis devincant (cfr. Rom. 6, 12), immo ut Christo etiam in aliis servientes, fratres suos ad Regem, cui servire regnare est, humilitate et patientia perducant.” Sacrosanctum Concilium Oecumenicum Vaticanum II, Constitutio dogmatica Lumen gentium, “De Ecclesia,” 21 Novembris 1964, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 57 (1965), 41, n. 36. English translation: Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Postconciliar Documents, ed. Austin Flannery, New Revised Edition (Northport, NY: Costello Publishing Company, 1992), p. 393, no. 36.

[17] “Turpiter, ceteroquin, erret, qui a Christo homine rerum civilium quarumlibet imperium abiudicet, cum is a Patre ius in res creatas absolutissimum sic obtineat, ut omnia in suo arbitrio sint posita. At tamen, quoad in terris vitam traduxit, ab eiusmodi dominatu exercendo se prorsus abstinuit, atque, ut humanarum rerum possessionem procurationemque olim contempsit, ita eas possessoribus et tum permisit et hodie permittit. In quo perbelle illud: Non eripit mortalia, qui regna dat caelestia. Itaque principatus Redemptoris nostri universos complectitur homines; quam ad rem verba immortalis memoriae decessoris Nostri Leonis XIII Nostra libenter facimus: «Videlicet imperium eius non est tantummodo in gentes catholici nominis, aut in eos solum, qui, sacro baptismate abluti, utique ad Ecclesiam, si spectetur ius, pertinent, quamvis vel error opinionum devios agat, vel dissensio a caritate seiungat; sed complectitur etiam quotquot numerantur christianae fidei expertes, ita ut verissime in potestate Iesus Christi sit universitas generis humani». Nec quicquam inter singulos hac in re et convictiones domesticas civilesque interest, quia homines societate coniuncti nihilo sunt minus in potestate Christi quam singuli. Idem profecto fons privatae ac communis salutis: Et non est in alio aliquo salus, nec aliud nomen est sub caelo datum hominibus, in quo oporteat nos salvos fieri; idem et singulis civilibus et rei publicae prosperitatis auctor germanaeque beatitatis: Non enim aliunde beata civitas, aliunde homo; cum aliud civitas non sit, quam concors hominum multitudo.” QP, 600-601. English translation: QPEng, p. 6, nos. 17-18.

[18] “Re autem vera ius istud evulgare doctrinam suam, congregare homines in unum corpus Ecclesiae per lavacrum salutis, leges denique imponere, quas recusare sine salutis sempiternae discrimine nemo posset.” Leo PP. XIII, Litterae Encyclicae Annum Sacrum, “De hominibus Sacratissimo Cordi Iesu devovendis,” 25 Maii 1899, Acta Sanctae Sedis, XXXI, 648. English translation: http://w2.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_250501899_annum-sacrum.html, p. 2, no. 4.

[19] Anthony Esolen, Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching: A Defense of the Church’s True Teachings on Marriage, Family, and the State (Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 2014), p. 168. [Esolen].

[20] “… vera societas, eademque omni civitate antiquior; cui propterea quaedam iura officiaque esse necesse est, quae minime pendeant a republica.” Leo PP. XIII, Litterae Encyclicae Rerum Novarum, “De condicione opificum,” 15 Maii 1891, Acta Sanctae Sedis, XXIII, 645. English translation: http://w2.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html, p. 5, no. 12.

[21] Esolen, p. 178.

[22] Esolen, pp. 183-184.

[23] “Officium Deo cultum authenticum tribuendi hominem individualiter et socialiter respicit. Hoc constituit «traditionalem doctrinam catholicam de morali hominum ac societatum officio erga veram religionem et unicam Christi Ecclesiam». Ecclesia, homines incessanter evangelizans, laborat ut ipsi possint informare «mentem et mores, leges et structuras communitatis», in qua vivunt. Christianorum sociale officium est in unoquoque homine observare et suscitare amorem veri et boni. Ab illis petit ut cognoscendum praebeant cultum unicae verae religionis quae in catholica et apostolica Ecclesia subsistit. Christiani vocantur ut lux mundi efficiantur. Sic Ecclesia regalitatem manifestat Christ super totam creationem et speciatim super humanas societates.” Catechismus Catholicae Ecclesiae (Città del Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), pp. 545-546, n. 2105. English translation: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2^nd ed. (Città del Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), p. 511, no. 2105.