If you want to know one of the places where we get the traditional image of God the Father—aged and with flowing white hair, such as we see in Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel frescos—look no further than the “Ancient One” holding heavenly court in the reading from the Book of Revelation.

TODAY’S CELEBRATION HAS the grandest sounding title on the church calendar: Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe! With a lead-in like that, any secular holiday would include fireworks and speeches, parades and pageantry. There would be formal dinners in resplendent ballrooms.

“My kingdom,” said Jesus, “doesn’t consist of what you see around you. If it did, my followers would fight so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But I’m not that kind of king, not the world’s kind of king.”

Baseball legend Yogi Berra, who died at the age of 90 after a long and storied career, was revered for his wisdom-filled malapropisms as much as his baseball prowess. Among his more memorable observations: “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might wind up someplace else.”

Christ is our King, who judges us fairly and with love. Let us confess to him our faults.

Are you the king . . . ? Jesus is clearly a king, but what kind, and of whom?

A man who was completely innocent offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act. —Mahatma Gandhi