Lord, each of us, Your children, are willed and loved. Help me to embrace fully the loving plan You have set before me, taking each day as another opportunity to live as intentionally as You created me. I ask that I may recognize this same purpose in every one of Your sons and daughters. I make this prayer through Your Son, Jesus. Amen.

There are powerful images in this week's reading and they seem to contradict each other. Each describes a king - but not any kind of king - a king in a unique circumstance. The prophet Daniel sees a vision of a king riding on clouds and receiving glory, domininion, and power. The psalmist proclaims the glory and kingship of the Lord, and in another vision from the apostle John this king (Jesus) proclaims that He is the "Alpha and the Omega;" the king before all kings and the king after all kings.

Yet in the Gospel, we see a king who seems powerless. He stands beneath Pontius Pikate - who isn't even a king - and He is ordered to be beaten, The end seems clear, and yet, confusing; this king is going to be crucified. Even Pilate seems confused; if this man is a kingdom why would the people reject Him?

Jesus is a king unlike any other. He is all powerful and has dominion over all the Earth. Despite this, in humility, He also allowed Himself to suffer and die for us. In this final Sunday of the liturgical year, we are reminded of the twofold reality that comes with following Jesus, When we follow Jesus, we want the victory, We want the glory. We wat the end of the story. The First and Second Readings give us incredible hope in just that. Still, we also must recognise that Jesus is a king that suffered, which means that in our world, we will also face difficulty. Jesus isn't blind to our suffering - He enteres into it, He is the king that takes our suffering upon Himself so that we can find healing and life. This is the power of an extraordinary king - our King - the only one with the power to bring life from deatha and to make each of us new.

The conversation between Jesus and Pontius Pilate is fascinating to study line-by-line. In it, we see Jesus as the master communicator. He systematically and intentionally reveals truth, but in a way that Pilate obviously does not understand.

When Pilare asks Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews," Christ answers the question with a question, a technique typical of most Rabbis. Notice that Jesus neither confirms nor denies His Kingship at any point in the conversation. While the Lord does not deny His royalty, He is trying to get Pilate to view His mission in a very different perspective. Pilate is focused on Earth, but Christ is focused on heaven. Pilate is attempting to avoid insurrection, and Christ is headed toward the Resurrection.

The Kingdom to which Christ is referring confuses Pilate, who only knows of the Roman Empire which is currently dominant throughout the ancient world. Jesus' use of kingdoms and regal language is lost on the governot, who only sees things through a political lens.

The word dominion comes from the atin, dominus meaning "Lord" or "master." Dominion means sovereignty and implies complete power, authority, and control.

The Greek alphabet only has 24 letters, of which Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters, respectively.

1. Jesus questions the sincerity of Pilate referring to Him as a "king." He asks if the question came from Pilate himself, or from what others told him about Jesus. What is your own answer to this question? Is you knowledge of Jesus based on personal interaction, or solely on the words of others?
2. What evidence in the world reminds us that Jesus' Kingdom is not here yet?
3. How can you build the Kingdom of God in the world throughout your daily life?
4. How can you be more intentional in listenign to the truth of Christ's voice?

Many men and women have been martyred for their rejection of earthly kings throughout the history of the Church. One of these individuals is Blessed Miguel Pro, a priest who lived during a time of Catholic persecution in Mexico. He was framed for the attempted bombing of a former president and was sentenced to death without any legal process. Before he was shot, he loudly proclaimed "¡Viva Cristo Rey!" or in English, "Long live Christ the King!"

This week, call on the intercession of Bl. Miguel to help you proclaim Christ as King in your own life.

This week's reflection comes from Ascend, a companion to the Sunday Mass Readings published by Life Teen International, 2018.