Christ the King in Our Times: CTK’s 40th Parish Fiesta Recollection
by: Bet E. Montecillo
“The evangelical presence of a parish community reflects Christ as King in our times.”
Thus were the opening words of Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle’s recollection last November 11, 2019. Christ the King Parish was very fortunate to have the archbishop of Manila for a few hours despite his hectic schedule on the occasion of its 40th anniversary.
Cardinal Tagle asked, “Do we really focus on the person of Christ as King?” The prelate traced Jesus’ both human and divine right to the kingship. His human lineage sprung from David, the shepherd boy, who was anointed king by God Himself. As fully human, Jesus was the Son of Man who hung on the cross, and in utter emotional and physical pain cried out, “‘Father, why have you abandoned me?’
Jesus’ divine kingship came together in the “I Am” discourse in the Gospel of John. “I Am the Good Shepherd.” “I Am the Light of the World.” “I Am the Bread of Life.” These are all attributed to Christ as King. And all these divine and human nature eventually blended together at His crucifixion, whereupon He was declared “King of the Jews” and who would be known in generations to come as King of all heaven and earth, begotten of the Father.
As we are called to be a parish for others, the cardinal posed a challenging question: What legacy do we leave our youth of today as we look up to the crucified Christ as the King in our times? Statistics show that fifty percent of today’s population in Manila are twenty-three years old and below. When Cardinal Chito asked those twentythree and under to raise their hands, only a handful were present in the fully packed church. That was a very telling moment.
Cardinal Chito also shared about his “conversion” experience when it came to noisy children in church. He used to get distracted with the din of crying babies during Mass until he celebrated the Eucharist in a church in Europe. Instead of wailing toddlers, all he heard were the relentless coughing of elderly Mass goers.
This moved us to reflect if we, the older ones, can honestly say that our generation has been responsible enough to mirror Christ to the young in the way we conduct ourselves as Christians. Do we inspire them to come to church, to worship, to listen, and to be informed? It is most gratifying to see whole families come to Sunday Mass even with babies and toddlers in their terrible twos.
We pray that the faith of young people may continue to mature in years to come. For didn’t Christ say, “Let the little children to come to me… for it is to such as these that the Kingdom of God belongs” (Luke 18:16)? Christ loved their noises, their laughter, their tears—for these were all wrapped in innocence.
Children are equipped with a good sense of remembering. They will remember their “church trips” where they learned to do the sign of the cross, how to kneel, how to sing sacred songs, and the feeling of being blessed. And when they do, we can say that we’ve been faithful in handing down the faith.
As CTK moves beyond its 40 years, I hope that more young people will be moved to be part of the Church, and that the Church may continue to reach out to them more.
