Oportet autem illum regnare..., it is necessary that He reign... ....
St. Paul teaches that Christ's sovereignty over all creation is already fulfilled in time, but will reach its definitive fullness after the universal judgment. The Apostle presents this event, mysterious for us, as an act of solemn homage to the Father: Christ will offer as a trophy the whole creation, he will offer it the Kingdom that until then had been entrusted to him8. His glorious coming at the end of time, when He will have established the new heaven and the new earth, will bring with it the definitive triumph over the devil, sin, pain and death.
In the meantime, the Christian's attitude cannot be passive before the reign of Christ in the world. We ardently desire that reign: Oportet illum regnare...! It is necessary that he reign first of all in our intelligence, through the knowledge of his doctrine and the loving observance of those revealed truths; it is necessary that he reign in our will, so that it obeys and identifies itself more and more fully with the divine will; it is necessary that he reign in our heart, so that no love may stand in the way of love for God; it is necessary that he reign in our body, temple of the Holy Spirit; in our work, way of holiness.... "How great you are Lord and our God! You are the one who puts in our life the supernatural sense and divine efficacy. You are the cause that, for the love of your Son, with all the strength of our being, with our soul and with our body, we can repeat: oportet illum regnare, while the song of our weakness resounds, because you know that we are creatures".
Today's feast is like a foretaste of the second coming of Christ in power and majesty, the glorious coming that will fill hearts and wipe away every tear of unhappiness. But it is at the same time a call and a spur for the gentle spirit of Christ to permeate all earthly realities around us, for "the hope of a new earth should not lessen, but rather stimulate, the commitment to cultivate this earth, wherein grows that body of the new human family which can already offer us a certain outline of the new world. Therefore, although earthly progress must be carefully distinguished from the development of the Kingdom of Christ, nevertheless, earthly progress, insofar as it can help to better organize human society, is of great importance for the Kingdom of God.
"The goods of human dignity, of fraternal communion and of freedom - that is, all the goods of nature and the fruits of our efforts - we will find them again, after we have propagated them (...), and this time already cleansed of every stain, illuminated and transfigured, when Christ returns to the Father the eternal and universal Kingdom (...). The Kingdom is already mysteriously present on this earth; and when the Lord comes it will reach its perfection". We collaborate in the extension of the reign of Jesus when we try to make the little world around us, the one we live in every day, more human and more Christian.