November 21, 2011. Fr Álvaro Corcuera, LC, general director of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi, sent the following letter to all Regnum Christi members and friends on the occasion of the feast of Christ the King.

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Rome, November 23, 2012.

To the Legionaries of Christ and the Members of Regnum Christi

Dear friends in Christ,

Each year, the solemnity of Christ the King is a very special moment for us to come together as a family, above all in the Eucharist and in the desire that Jesus Christ reign in our hearts. 

I would like to thank each one of you for your prayers, your words and the notes you have sent me.  It is impossible for me to express all of my gratitude towards you in words.  I am renewed and reinvigorated by your love for Jesus Christ, your response to the loving action of God, the Church and the Movement, and your desire to extend the Kingdom.  Jesus Christ makes us see that everything that he permits brings us to love him more and leads us to the goal of every Christian, which is holiness.  Truly, his love surprises us again and again.  More and more, I thank God for the gift of having been called to form part of this family.     

Often, we put “Thy Kingdom Come!” at the beginning of what we write.  What does Jesus Christ have that is capable of changing the hearts of men?  What is there in him that has filled our lives with meaning?  We know that he reigns in our hearts in a way that we cannot express.  He is silent, loving, demanding, gentle, good, warm.  This is Christ the King that we contemplate in the Gospel, whose kingdom is not of this world.  He reigns by serving, loving and suffering for us.  To meditate on Christ as King is to contemplate the image of Jesus Christ offended and crucified.  It makes us see that he loved us to the end and that he asks that we respond by loving with all of our heart, without expecting anything in return.  It is a response that is a “yes” in each moment of our lives, in small things and big things.  The story of so many saints and martyrs shows us that everything brings the one who has Christ as Lord of his life to experience the joy of self-giving, even in the middle of very difficult trials.   

His kingdom is not about being in the spotlight, about being more or having more.  It is a kingdom of meekness and humility.  His crown is made of thorns.  His authority is service.  When we consider that He is God and yet see him like this, the only possible response is to say “Here I am, Lord!  By your grace, I will be with you in good and in bad, joy and sorrow, trials and fatigue.”   We always know that love is more powerful than all else and, for this reason, the kingdom of Christ transforms us.  The one that contemplates so much love doesn’t “do apostolate”, but rather is always an apostle.  The Kingdom of Christ is a complete “yes”, out of pure love.  Considering this love of Christ for each one of us, we feel propelled to extend his Kingdom throughout the whole world, in each person we meet, in our families, in culture.  Our motto “Thy Kingdom Come!” thus becomes a motivation and incentive to be apostles.   

Our trust is in our King, whom we contemplate on his throne in heaven, directing our history with wisdom and loving providence.  In these days we have been reading the letter of St. Paul to the Colossians.  It is practically a program of life: “Seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” (Col 3:1)  Especially in these moments, how much it helps to see everything from the point of view of eternity!  We are living situations that we cannot consider exclusively from the human perspective.  Instead, we should be full of faith, hope and charity to continue striving and giving our lives with renewed enthusiasm.   

More than ever, we need each other as brothers and sisters, supporting and sustaining each other.  In the same letter, Saint Paul says: “put on the new self … as God´s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection.  And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful.” (Col 3:10-15)  Today, we thank God in a special way for having called us to be a living part of the Legion and the Movement, where we have brothers and sisters like you at our side.   

It is love that lets us move forward in difficulties.  In one of his recent audiences, Pope Benedict XVI said that “the human experience of love has in itself a dynamism that refers beyond the self, it is the experience of a good that leads to being drawn out and finding oneself before the mystery that encompasses the whole of existence.” (November 7, 2012)  We have all experienced that, when we look at ourselves too much, the panorama darkens.  On the other hand, everything changes when we live thinking about Christ, about the mission he entrusts to us, about so many souls that are in need of his love.   

Love always impels us forward.  “Caritas Christi urget nos.”   Our daily response, the response of each one of us today, is important for Christ, for the Church, for Regnum Christi.  The Pope also said in the same audience: “In this way we will learn to strive, unarmed, for the good that we cannot build or attain by our own power; and we will learn to not be discouraged by the difficulty or the obstacles that come from our sin.”  In the degree to which we trust in the strength and power of Christ the King, and not in our own capabilities, we will be able to be instruments of grace and help many men and women to meet Him.  He has called us to this. 

I would like to thank you once again.  Let us together ask God to continue guiding us in our journey of renewal.  For this we have the Principles of the Charism of the Regnum Christi Movement to continue our reflections on and assimilation of what it means to be followers of this King, preachers of the Kingdom of Christ.     

May God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin watch over us and protect us.   

Sincerely yours in Christ, Alvaro Corcuera, LC