The Personalist Project
http://www.thepersonalistproject.org/home/comments/what_the_solemnity_of_christ_the_king_reveals_about_personhood
Accessed on September 21, 2023 - 5:49:35
"Lift up your heads, O gates; be lifted up you ancient doors, that the King of Glory May come in!"
This being, in the Catholic Church, the great Solemnity of Christ the King, a couple of quick reflections—or fragments of reflections, since I am writing on the fly—on its implications for personhood.
The first is a question: Apart from the fact that we are told in Scripture "we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God," can we establish through philosophical reflection that the very concept of personhood entails royalty?
The second is about justice. I love this verse in Isaiah: "Say to those whose hearts are frightened: fear not, here is your God. He comes with vindication." And this in the Psalms: "He will rule the nations with justice and the peoples with equity."
It seems to me that without this hope and promise of ultimate justice, human life would be unbearable. The dignity of the person demands justice, which it seldom finds here on earth.