O Rex Gentium. (Advent Meditations)
by VP
Posted on Friday December 22, 2023 at 12:00AM in Chant
“O
King of the nations and desired of them, and the Corner-stone that
maketh both one, come and save man, whom Thou didst form of dust.”
1.
Never was there a king who had such a claim to sovereignty as Christ
Our Lord. He is King by divine appointment and His own right. He is King
by the consentient voice of His subjects, and by the right of conquest.
He is King by reason of His having purchased us with His own blood.
What unnumbered claims He has on me ! and besides all the rest, does He
not deserve to reign supreme by reason of His having won me by His love ?
2. Christ was desired by all nations, long before they knew Him
Whom they desired. The heathen world felt a craving want, which it
could not define, but which was the desire for the Savior Who should
free them from the bondage of sin. So now men of good-will outside the
Church feel something of the same strange longing. Nothing will satisfy
it save submission to their King by union with His mystical body, the
Church of God. Oh, how happy am I, whose desires are fulfilled in that I
am no alien, but a servant of that King Whom to serve is my own desire !
3. Christ is the Corner-stone that maketh both one ; the King
of peace, Whose work it is to unite together those who love Him in the
unity of mutual love of one another for His sake. Thus He desires that I
should be united to those around me, that there should be no dissension
or disunion. Do I in this fulfill the pleasure of my King ? "
Meditations for Advent . By Rev. Richard F. Clarke S.J. The Catholic Truth Society, London 1891
