Announcing a Novena in Preparation for the Solemnity of Christ the King – 26 November 2017
Let us enter into Nine days of prayer which will focus on Jesus as the Universal King. The Roman Catholic Church sets aside the last Sunday of the liturgical year as the Feast of Christ the King, this year 2017, the Feast is on 26 November.
The Feast of Christ the King is, as Catholic feasts go, a relatively recent one. It was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925, to remind Catholics (and the world generally) that Jesus Christ is Lord of the Universe, both as God and as Man. Pius XI announced the feast in his encyclical Quas Primas, which was delivered on 11 December 1925. At the end of the encyclical, he declared that he expected three “blessings” to flow from the celebration of the feast: first, that “men will doubtless be reminded that the Church, founded by Christ as a perfect society, has a natural and inalienable right to perfect freedom and immunity from the power of the state”; second, that “Nations will be reminded by the annual celebration of this feast that not only private individuals but also rulers and princes are bound to give public honour and obedience to Christ”; and third, that “The faithful, moreover, by meditating upon these truths, will gain much strength and courage, enabling them to form their lives after the true Christian ideal.”
AnaStpaul 