​A couple weeks ago, we let you know that starting tomorrow, the Carpe Verbum team would be taking a break as we prepare for an exciting new chapter in the Carpe Verbum story…

We’ll be telling you more about that next weekend as we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent. 

In the meantime, we could really use YOUR help. During this week when we’re all giving thanks, would you take just a minute and let us know how the ministry of Carpe Verbum has impacted your life?

We’d love to hear from all of you — no story is too small to share! Submit your stories to Maggie by emailing maggie@carpeverbum.org or head to our contact page (carpeverbum.org/contact) and submit your stories there!

We can’t wait to hear your stories and share with you about what’s coming next in ours!

 Happy happy Solemnity, friends! It's the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

Now that's a name for a holiday.

And of course, on this holiday, this final Sunday of the year, right before we get ready for Advent and the preparation for our Lord's coming at Christmas, we get a reading which, if it didn't make you uncomfortable, you probably didn't really read it. Jesus, towards the end of his public ministry, is preparing those who are following him for the end of the world; more directly, he's preparing them for his time on earth coming to an end.

The image that we get is of a judge; a good judge, a just judge, but a judge. This judge – the Lord – sits on the throne, separating the sheep from the goats, the one from the other, and sending each to their eternal home. And what does that separation rely on?

Of course, in practical terms, there is some clear action on the part of the people involved in the Lord's separation of people on this judgment day. Did you feed the poor? Did you clothe the naked? Shelter the homeless? Visit the imprisoned? Give drink to the thirsty?

If the answer is yes, you are righteous, and you get your reward of eternal life; if it's no, then you go to eternal punishment. I don't want to gloss over this, because it's important. The Lord is telling us something very clearly: we need to respond to his love for us by the way that we treat others, especially those most in need. If we won't, then we will receive the consequences.

Why is this the Gospel on the feast of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe?

In 2020, it's actually pretty hard for a lot of us to get this, I think. We've been trained, both by the world and even by a lot of well-meaning people in the Church, to believe that sin, death, and hell are not real things. We've been trained to believe that it's impossible to end up there. We've been trained to whitewash sin as something that God wouldn't really punish us for, and assume that everyone is in heaven.

Jesus, though, in the Gospel today, is very clear: Hell is real, and there is the chance of us going to eternal punishment. It's really important that we know that! We need to know that Hell, sin, and death are real so that we don't think we have it all together. We need to know that we are broken and sinful people so that we can truly appreciate the Good News: our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, died so that death could no longer reign. In Him, we have victory over sin and death and all that comes against us; in Him, we have true hope of eternal life.

And so today, on this great feast day, let us enthrone the Lord of the universe in our hearts and our lives for He is worthy of the place of honor. Let us receive His love, shown so perfectly on the cross, and in response to that love let us pour ourselves out in love for each and every person that we meet. The King of the Universe is the Good Shepherd who hunts down each member of his flock that goes astray; may we allow ourselves to be brought back into the fold each time we go away, and in the Shepherd may we find our true and lasting home.

Do you believe that Hell is real? Don't just quickly answer this, really pray with it. 

How do you show Christ your love for Him?

Are you living out the works of mercy? 

"Christ the King."

"King of the Universe."

"Help me find my lasting home."

Celebrate Christ the King today. Spend extra time in prayer. Drop food off at your food pantry. Go to confession. Today is a great feast day, have an extra dessert or do something special to celebrate. 

​Today's Gospel is one I have a tendency to read, and then get confused, and then tune out. So many marriages and then resurrection? That seems like a problem for 2000 years ago not today.

But this time I chose to look a little deeper.

What the Sadducees are doing is tricky. They are messing with Jesus. Testing Him, trying to trip Him up so that they can accuse Him. And I find myself doing this, too. I don't question Jesus's knowledge about the law; instead I find myself questioning Him about how much He knows me, how much He loves me.

I tend to say: "Lord, if you really love me, you will give me this." Or "Lord, you know what's best for me; but this is what needs to happen here."

I know I am a control freak (ask my mom, my brothers or my husband), and me telling Jesus what to do or what would make me the most happy is my own way of trying to do what the Sadducees did. Jesus answered the Sadducees; and He answered me too.

Often, He answers me in ways I don't want, in ways that push me (like the time I told Him everything was great and then He asked me to move across the country, or the time I thought I was going to marry someone and got dumped instead). But the thing is, the results of Jesus pushing back on what I asked Him for has lead me to new places, new friends, new opportunities, a loving husband, an adorable puppy, and most importantly to be closer to Him than I could have ever dreamed.

​So stop telling Jesus what you think needs to happen, us control freaks have to let it go. Open yourself up to all the wonders that He has for you and recommit to follow Him today.

In what ways do you try to control your life that Jesus might be asking you today to surrender so that he can truly be Lord?

How are you like the Sadducees, doubting in the true wisdom and power of God?

What is an area of your life where you have seen Jesus move in power and fulfill his promises to you? Give him thanks for that today!

"Jesus, I trust in you."

"I give you control."

​"Lead me, Lord."

When something doesn't go right today, use it as a time to pause – even if very briefly – and thank ​God for what went wrong, allowing him to truly be Lord even of the bad things.

Use the following meditation to help you reflect more deeply on the Scripture (you may want to read the passage again).

​In today’s Gospel, Jesus is journeying to Jerusalem. He has reached a hill that overlooks the city, and as he looks out across the valley at the buildings and bustle ahead, he is pierced with such love for the place and its people that he begins to weep. He must know that this will be his last visit to this city full of people he loves, his last time to its Temple where he was presented at birth, where as a tween, he stayed to talk with elders and was lost to his parents, where he has worshipped and preached. Perhaps he senses not only that his own death is imminent – but knows that this city, in rejecting him, will eventually embrace a political rebellion that will spur the Romans to level it to the ground. “If only this day you knew what makes for peace!” he laments.

Our nation has just gone through a tumultuous election, and the divisions among us have come into stark focus. The worst of each side has publicly vilified, condemned, and sewn mistrust of the other. It has often been ugly, a cause for sorrow. If only we could know what makes for peace!

A yearning for peace can be a seed planted in us by God. And the path to this peace is found in Jesus’ last words on that hillside: we must “recognize the time of his visitation.”

Jesus was God-in-the-flesh who came to be with us, but most people completely missed it. They did not recognize him as God among them. Perhaps they could not imagine that the God of the universe could be so plain and unremarkable. Perhaps they were expecting God to come as a political savior who would reestablish the glory days of the kingdoms of David and Solomon.

Instead, God came as a carpenter, who traveled among people preaching that the kingdom of God was within and among them. Even today, the kingdom of God is within and among us. Jesus is present within our hearts, within our relationships, among our interactions with others. When we sense the sacred within others or ourselves, we are recognizing a “time of Jesus’ visitation.” Before we categorize each other by political party, by race, or by liberal or conservative – we are each first and foremost bearers of the Kingdom of God within. Each time we can look beyond categories and recognize Jesus’ “visitation” in each other, we are one step further along the path to peace.

These questions are to be used to talk to God; have a conversation with the Lord about these questions and what is going on in your heart as you pray today.

​Where do I expect to find God?

Where do I actually find God?

Where am I yearning for and working towards peace?

In this step, you listen. Stop talking, let God speak to your heart. You may repeat one of these short phrases to focus your mind on the Lord.

​"Bring us peace."

"Heal our hearts."

"Show us the way."

In light of today's reading and your time spent in prayer with the Lord, what concrete action or actions will you take to let this encounter with the Lord bear fruit in you today?

​Take time to recognize the sacred in others today.