Daily Reading for November 21 • The Last Sunday after Pentecost: Christ the King
The Father of angels,
the true King of victory, will call a synod,
the Lord of retainers, to judge with righteousness.
Then all people on earth will
rise up as the almighty King will
command, the captain of angels, with the sound
of trumpets over the wide abyss, the Savior of souls.
Dark death through the Lord’s might
will end for all the blessed. . . . .
Bones will be gathered,
limbs and body together and the life’s spirit
before Christ’s knee. Gloriously the King
will shine with the saints from his high seat,
the beautiful jewel of wonder. . . .
Thus the noble ones are
the winsome plants with whom the wild bird
set out a new nest for himself
so that suddenly it surges with fire,
is swallowed up under the sun with himself in it,
and then after the flame again accepts
life, renewal. So everyone in the race of man
enfolded in flesh shall be
unique and young again, he who here
works his own will so glory’s King,
mighty at the judgment, will be mild to him.
Then the holy spirits will speak out,
the steadfast souls raise a song
clean and chosen, praise the King’s glory,
voice after voice, ascend to glory,
spiced in beauty with their best deeds.
Then the souls of the people will be purified,
brightly polished through the burning of fire.
From The Phoenix, quoted in Anglo-Saxon Spirituality: Selected Writings, translated and introduced by Robert Boenig, in the Classics of Western Spirituality series (Paulist Press, 2000).