Salve Regina, Mater Misericordiae,
In the Gospel today, our Lord pronounces this parable as he's ascending towards Jerusalem.
The Apostles, of course, still don't understand how our Lord is to reign.
They understand that he is the Messiah, but they're still looking for some sort of temporal reign.
And so our Lord gives them this parable about the nobleman who goes off to receive his kingship.
And that refers to our Lord's ascension, that he is the nobleman who, after his glorious resurrection, ascends into heaven.
It refers to him who came among the Jews to take possession of the kingdom, which was his due.
But being rejected and treated unworthily,
and even put to a disgraceful death on the cross,
he will one day come again, armed with vengeance, and inflict the effects of his anger upon them.
This was already partially fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD,
and will be completed at the general judgment.
We can ask ourselves, how many Christians today pronounce those same words?
How many Catholics say, we will not have this man reign over us?
That is, we will not have our Lord as our king.
We will not submit to his kingship or obey his laws.
In the words of St. Alphonsus, we can say that they are the greater portion.
Or in the words of the Gospel, we can say that they are the many,
as opposed to the few.
And here, in the U.S., we can say that it's at least 54% of U.S. Catholic voters
who will not accept our Lord as their king and do not want him to reign over them.
Today's Gospel also teaches us that we will each be rewarded in heaven
according to our merits here on earth.
We see how the one servant comes back to our Lord and says,
Lord, thy pound has gained ten pounds.
And our Lord replies, thou shalt have power over ten cities.
And then the next servant comes and says, thy pound has gained five.
And then our Lord grants him five cities.
So we see our eternal reward in heaven directly corresponds
to how we served our Lord in this life,
the generosity with which we served him,
the degree of charity with which we die.
As our Lord said in the Gospel,
there are many mansions in my Father's house.
Not all of the saints in heaven enjoy the same degree of glory
and the same blessedness.
Or again, as St. Paul says,
star differs from star in brightness.
So every day, let us ask our Lord to reign over us.
Let's accept his kingship over our lives.
Every time we come into the church,
we ought to bend our knee before our Eucharistic King
and seek to serve him generously day after day.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Praise be Jesus Christ.