It's the last Sunday of the liturgical year, the feast of Christ the King. This would be celebrated at the end, because proclaiming someone a king would be a culmination of their life. And next Sunday begins Advent, which is the beginning of the liturgical year. It would have to be the beginning, because it is the quiet, reflective time before Christmas, the birth of Jesus, and we know that life begins, not at birth, but before that, at conception. So, we honor that presence of him in his mother's womb for the three or four weeks before Christmas, waiting and preparing with her for the birth.
It's nice for the merchants that Advent starts on December first this year, since all Advent calendars I've ever seen seem to think it always begins on that date. But Advent is not something invented by those who sell Christmas decorations. It was observed by the very early Christians and officialized in the fourth century - that's pretty early! They observed it practically from the beginning.
Christ's reign is a conquest not over political enemies
but over the powers of sin and death.
His rule is redemption.
- from Magnificat, November 2024
Put no trust in princes,
in mortal men in whom there is no help.
Take their breath, they return to clay
and their plans that day come to nothing.
- from Psalm 146
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