On the final Sunday of the liturgical year we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. It’s easy to understand today’s scriptures as events that happened long ago and far away, or predictions that will come true somewhere, some day.

This Sunday’s Gospel is our final selection from Mark for this liturgical year. It is taken from the end of Jesus’ teaching in Jerusalem immediatelypreceding the account of his arrest and passion. In it Jesus gives his disciples hope to sustain them through his passion and death and any persecutionor suffering that they would encounter after his resurrection.

Fr. Jerry is a native of Whiting, Indiana, a suburb of Chicago. He has been a member of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood (C.PP.S.) since 1966 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1972. Over the years his ministry has included teaching high school and college, chaplaincy in a state psychiatric facility in California, and six years as secretary general of his religious congregation in Rome.

God’s laws are not intended to burden or torment us. Instead, they are guideposts that point us in the direction of good living. Accordingly, good living requires loving God and loving one another. We should not follow God’s laws out of fear of what might happen if we don’t, but rather view them as a foundation for building relationships and trust with one another and with God.