Liturgical Guide: Christ the King

Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

The Solemnity of Christ the King was instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI as a response to the growing secularism and nationalism of the time. 1925 had been a Holy Year in which Pius XI asked the Church to pray for peace among all peoples. The Jubilee Year concluded with the promulgation of his encyclical, Quas Primas (On the Feast of Christ the King) in which he wrote: "Men must look for the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ ...and that peace could not be more effectually restored nor fixed upon a firmer basis than through the restoration of the Empire of Our Lord." He concluded by reminding us that "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...our wills...our hearts...and our bodies".

LITURGY OF THE HOURS (1975)
101. Crown Him With Many Crowns
102. Hail, Redeemer, King Divine
141. To Jesus Christ, Our Sovereign King

DIVINE OFFICE (1974)
To Christ the Lord of Worlds We Sing

Reflection on the Solemnity of Christ the King by the Apostleship of Prayer.