O King of the Nations

“O King of the Nations, Ruler of the People, and their desired One, Come, and deliver us, whom you formed out of the dust of the earth.”

Laudato si' - Praise be to you ~ Ruler of the People!

It is true we seldom speak of Kings in connection with  governing now.  In the past they were the rulers, protectors, and earnest caretakers of their people.  We now speak of leaders of various countries, with varying titles throughout the world.  However, their responsibility has not diminished with time, as God gave the first humans dominion over the earth when he gave man the authority to name everything:

You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:
You asked him to name the creatures –
They saw a big black monster jumping out of the ocean and back – the called it a Whale.
They saw a tiny, tiny, little creature – hard to see from a distance – they called them Ants.
Then they saw a huge, huge animal – four big fat legs and a trunk – they called it an Elephant.
They saw a big animal, not walking on four legs but hopping on two – they called it a Kangaroo.
Then they saw a big majestic bird, gliding through the air – they called it an Eagle.
They saw two fluffy white and black balls playing together – they called them Pandas.
Oh, how they had fun naming all your creatures in the lands where we came from, and to which we now belong - and whatever man called them – that was their name. You smiled at the names they gave them.

You made man ruler over the works of your hands – and with that a responsibly to care for your creation and care for each other……but we are failing in that care for your creation and soon these beautiful creatures may be extinct.   For instead of carrying out our role as cooperator with God in the work of creation, we have set ourselves up in place of God and thus we end up provoking a rebellion on the part of nature.

So now – we call out to you again our song of longing -
We want so much to hear

•    the heavens rejoicing and the earth being happy again -
•    the sea and all that is within it jumping and crashing for joy again -
•    that all lands and all the fruits it produces rejoice in giving plenty again -
• the trees of the woods shouting for joy again as they stand strong and rooted in the earth to  prevent disasters of mud slides from hillside and mountain sides -
• We want so much to see the morning stars singing in chorus again and twinkling as they   sing “Here we are, look at us.”
• We want our earth to sing again with all creatures you created in the beginning, to sing anew,  “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways – King and Creator of the Universe.”

“There is a King, a man after my own heart, who loved to use images of nature in parables: seeds, weeds, wheat, yeast, fish and trees to teach us about the kingdom of his Father and who showed us how much he loved the poor?”
  In this world, that you love as much as we do, we have gone ahead at breakneck speed, feeling powerful and able to do anything. Greedy for profit, we let ourselves get caught up in things, and lured away by haste. We were not shaken awake by wars or injustice across the world, nor did we listen to the cry of the poor or of our ailing planet. We carried on regardless, thinking we would stay healthy in a world that was sick. Now that we are in a stormy sea of a pandemic, we implore you: King of the Nations, come, wake us up. Help us build anew your Kingdom of justice, peace, love, and beauty.
Tell us, how can we become more like you, Jesus, King of the Nations, who loved to speak using images which showed how much you loved your Father’s creative work and the poor of this world?



“You hold the answer to that secret each day as you reach out your  cradled hands and hear the words -
 
   “This is my body”