Jesus Christ is "the Faithful Witness, the First-Born from the dead and Ruler of the kings of earth" (Rv 1:5). He "loves us and freed us from our sins by His own blood" (Rv 1:5). Do you accept Jesus as the crucified and glorified King of kings and Lord of lords? (Rv 19:16) To accept Jesus as the King is to repent as the good thief did (Lk 23:42). It means to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness (Mt 6:33) and not to live for ourselves (2 Cor 5:15) or have a righteousness of our own doing (Phil 3:9). To accept Jesus as the King we would have to humble ourselves, deny ourselves, and each day take up the cross of our crucified King.

The decision to acknowledge Jesus as the King is the most important decision in our lives, but it is humanly impossible to make. Yet God's grace is always sufficient (2 Cor 12:9). We don't have to be like Pontius Pilate, who knew in his heart that Jesus was the King (see Jn 18:37; 19:21-22), but pridefully crucified the King and so perished. We can be like the good thief, who had ruined his life but acknowledged Jesus as the King. Moments later he died and went to be with Jesus in the paradise of His kingdom that very day (Lk 23:43).

At this moment, by your life you are accepting or rejecting King Jesus. May your life cry out for His kingdom to come (Mt 6:10).

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Ralph J. Lawrence, April 24, 2000

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, April 27, 2000