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| So, about your rebellion.... |
Everything belongs to the King.
This arrangement is not the one to which we are accustomed. The principle of private property holds that what is mine is mine, yours is yours, and so on unto his, hers, theirs, ours, and pending litigation. Government property is a different matter. Our nation holds to this principle, mostly.
But a King is different; the whole Kingdom is his, and everybody else just lives there. This was the standard arrangement of human governance for millennia, even though now it has passed from practice, mostly.
The arrangement sounds like an enormous benefit for the King, but as any young first-time car owner discovers, with ownership come responsibility, obligations, and costs. Not least among these is security, that is, protecting what is yours from them who would take it away. Even a King can ignore these only at his peril. The more that is owned, the greater the burden. The King’s burden is enormous, because everything belongs to the King.
For you and me and everyone who is Not The King, this seems an enormous penalty. The house where we sleep is not ours, and the King can turn us out at any time; the produce from our labors is not our own, and the King can take whatever of its bounty appeals to him. Even our families and our very lives are not ours, as the King can claim anyone he wishes to serve him.
Yet there is an upside. For us who are Not The King, the burdens, responsibilities, and obligations are not ours either. In fact, our needs and even our happiness fall squarely into the category of responsibilities of the King. He can ignore any responsibilities he chooses, but recall, it is at his peril. People deprived of basic needs have ways of arranging for a new King.
Here in the Land of the Free, we sit back and imagine such an existence, if we can take a minute from the duties, labors, and obligations attendant on what we have, what we need, and what we desire. Yes, we say, we are better off this way; and perhaps it is true.
Being Pastor is in some ways like, and in some ways unlike, being King. For many practical purposes here at the parish, I am the Property Owner with many powers. This is a convenient fiction, however, that makes it possible for me to pay bills and oversee who does what, and who is forbidden. In reality, the Archbishop owns it all. What he demands, I relinquish. At the flick of his pen, and possibly just his eyebrow, I can be deprived of both privileges and responsibilities.
This is because the Church is the earthly manifestation of the Kingdom of God. Everything she has belongs to the King. Her earthly governance falls to the Vicar of Christ, the Successor of Peter. Vicar is like viceroy, or vice-king; he is not himself the King, but is the King’s place-holder, or lieu-tenant. The King cannot be represented by a committee or a council, but only by an individual. Talk about burdens and responsibilities!
The burden of all that is, was, and ever shall be falls on the King of the Universe. He is sovereign of all creation and all time, and you and I just live here. The bodies in which we live are not ours, and the King can turn us out at any time; the produce from our labors is not our own, and the King can take whatever of its bounty appeals to him. Even our families and our very lives are not ours, as the King can claim anyone he wishes to serve him.
For all this, we owe the King our gratitude, and grateful worship. For the burdens, responsibilities, and obligations are not ours either. In fact, our needs and even our happiness fall squarely into the category of responsibilities of the King. He can ignore any responsibilities he chooses, but ignores no need and no needful person, though there be no threat of arranging for a new King.
Despite his awesome power, the King astonishingly insists that all his subjects be free to ignore what we owe to him. Those subjects who refuse to tender this just portion tell themselves that yes, they are better off this way. And in truth, those subjects who refuse are more numerous than we can imagine; those who refuse include every subject of the King, including us.
For in our poverty and in our abundance, we all cling to something we believe to be truly our own, and not his; some selected thing we refuse to relinquish for it would deprive us our lives, our very selves. Oh, we might not cling to everything; we might not refuse everything we owe every day. And yet. We are unworthy servants who rarely manage to do what is required of us.
We have so much; how can this be? Is the King reckless with his treasures, or heedless of our disobedience? Neither is true.
Everything indeed belongs to the King. And Jesus Christ, Who is King of the Universe, Who reigns from the Cross, bestows everything on us.
Monsignor Smith
