As we reflect further upon the mystery of Christ’s kingship, we can ask ourselves a simple question: what does it mean to profess our allegiance to Christ the King? What does it look like? How can we live such an allegiance in our secular, confused and compromised world?
The answer to all these questions is the same. To make an allegiance to Christ is to choose to speak, act and stand with Him in faith when we make our ordinary, daily choices. Each time we make a choice between doing what is right and doing what the world wants us to do, we are making a choice between standing with Christ or standing with the world. Each time we need to choose between speaking the truth despite the cost or remaining silent, we are choosing between our allegiance to Christ or the world. Every time we choose between loving a person selflessly and generously or seeking to take advantage of that person for our own benefit, we are choosing to whom we have allegiance- the world or Christ.
The world wants us to believe that Christian discipleship is a far-flung ideal from a distant past that cannot work in our competitive and harsh world. There are many voices who disguise themselves as voices of faith whose tactics resemble the world’s way of acting, all the while claiming to be faithful to Christ. There are even those who sympathize with the Christian teachings solely as a philosophy of life, embracing it as a way to live a “good life” without any reference to the gift of redemption and salvation that is the goal of all Christian discipleship. These voices are all around us, tempting us to make choices that compromise our allegiance to Christ the Lord.
Christ asks those who follow Him to make ordinary choices with His extraordinary grace, allowing our words and actions to reveal His real, transforming presence in the world. Each of these “ordinary” choices matter. Each of them shows to whom we have our true allegiance.
The previous reflection originally appeared on Bishop Frank Caggiano’s Facebook page. Follow the Bishop for daily reflections and weekly videos!