Sunday, November 24, 2019

All power in heaven and on earth (Pope Pius XI)


  If to Christ our Lord is given all power in heaven and on earth; if all men, purchased by his precious blood, are by a new right subjected to his dominion; if this power embraces all men, it must be clear that not one of our faculties is exempt from his empire.  He must reign in our minds, which should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the doctrines of Christ.  He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God.  He must reign in our hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all things, and cleave to him alone.  He must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls, or to use the words of the Apostle Paul, as instruments of justice unto God.

--Pope Pius XI, founder of the Feast of Christ the King, 1925
Quas Primas #33, Liberia Editrice Vaticana

Image source:  Throne of Preparation, part of a fresco of The Last Judgment (Serbia, 14th c.), https://iconreader.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/hetoimasia-the-throne-of-preparation/

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