The first reading at Mass today, on the feast of Christ the King, is an account of one of the visions of Daniel.
It speaks of the power of God, shared with his people. It is interpreted also in the Church as a foreshadowing of the ministry of God in flesh, Jesus Christ.
I gazed into the visions of the night.
And I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven,
one like a son of man.
He came to the one of great age
and was led into his presence.
On him was conferred sovereignty,
glory and kingship,
and men of all peoples, nations and languages became his servants.
His sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty
which shall never pass away,
nor will his empire ever be destroyed.Daniel 7:13-14
Visions are problematic things. Sometimes visionaries are unstable; but sometimes it is because they are unstable that they are the capable recipients of dreams and vision that are authentic prophesy or private revelation. Sometimes it is those who are not the visionaries who in the violence of their response to the reports of vision – either in approval or conndemnation – who show themselves up, and reveal a lack of firm grounding in the Gospel and gospel values.
Daniel’s vision, (given canonical status through its inclusion in Scripture!), invites us to an awareness that the meaning and direction, the ‘end ‘ or final purpose of life and of our individual lives, relies on more than just us and the here and now.
Living subject to the Kingship of Christ, or to the will of the Father, rely on the same sort of openness to the importance of what is connected with us, but also lies beyond our ken.
Happy feast day!
- What forms of teaching do you find most persuasive and helpful?
- What forms do you find most challenging or even unhelpful?
- Why?
- What have you learnt about faith most recently?
Moon over Boldmere. (c) 2015, Allen Morris
Living Eucharist 