There is a concept in ancient and medieval philosophy that gets transferred into some of the art of the culture and eventually gets pulled into Christian art, as well. The concept or image is called the “Wheel of Fortune.” Now, it is not that TV show where they spin the multi-colored wheel and then guess the puzzle while the woman turns over the letters as they are illuminated. As I mentioned, this is a concept from ancient and medieval philosophy.
The “Wheel of Fortune,” as we find it depicted in art, often shows Fortune as a woman blindfolded. She spins a large wheel, and there are often four figures on various points around it; all of them are the same person at different parts of his life. On the far left, and rising towards the top of the wheel as it spins, is a finely dressed man, energetic and pleased that he is moving up. Next to him is a Latin phrase indicating the words, “I will reign.” At the top of the wheel, seated on a throne and crowned, is the same figure, now with the indication, “I reign.” Next, and almost falling off the wheel, is the man whose face is twisted in confusion and next to him is written the words, “I reigned.” Finally, at the bottom, is the figure of that sorry man, his cloak sometimes stripped off, and the crown on the ground beside him, with the words, “I no longer reign.”
The point of the “Wheel of Fortune” is that everything happens by chance. Life, says this concept, is simply a random game in which some are fortunate and rule, while others do not. Perhaps you may get the chance to play several different parts throughout your life, if Lady Fortune smiles upon you, but there are no guarantees.
In the Sixth Century, with the Christian Philosopher Boethius, we find a renewed vision of that wheel. In his great work, The Consolation of Philosophy, Lady Philosophy will come to Boethius and, very much like Virgil guiding Dante in the Divine Comedy, she guides him in the finer principles of the philosophical life. When we reach Book Two, Lady Philosophy begins with a stern warning for Boethius to stay far clear of the malicious Lady Fortune!
Boethius is not thoroughly convinced at first. Cannot fortune be useful for many excellent things? Good fortune, never, she warns him; it is fleeting and will deceive you. Ill fortune may be instructive and helpful to see some clarity about the passing nature of life and the necessity to hold to the things that matter most (this is the sense that it gets picked up in Christian art, and we find the “Wheel of Fortune in stained glass in many cathedrals). In the end, Lady Philosophy tells Boethius to hold fast to reason, and ultimately to love. These are the things that remain stable, and they are a sure guide, whatever the fortunes of life may be.
I would borrow the wisdom Boethius gains, and apply it to our Solemnity of Christ the King this morning. The readings for this great feast, and Christ Himself, teach us that life is not ruled and governed by chance! Our lives are ruled by God, and His sovereign will. It is through the gift of reason, complimented by faith, that we are inspired to use our free will to love, and we come to share in the life of God Himself. There is nothing random about that.
There can be no greater example of this vision for us than Christ Himself. Jesus Christ reigns, period. He simply is Christ the King of the Universe. Yet, as St. Paul tells us, “He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7). It is not by ill fortune or by chance that Jesus is stripped of glory and rejected by men. It is by the will of God that He will lay down His life freely, generously, on the cross. Christ the King dies for our salvation, and He is risen on the third day by the will of the Father. He ascends into heaven where He will reign forever, not because Lady Fortune smiles at Him but because He is God and His will is to care for us and govern our lives. We discover in the Gospel that He wants nothing more than for us than to share in His reign and in His life forever.
We must choose to act in accord with that awesome will and plan of God. In fact, we discover in the readings for this weekend that we will be judged as to how we have used our reason, our free will, and responded to faith, inspired by love. Or not.
The Prophet Ezekiel clearly tells us, “As for you, my sheep, says the Lord God, I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats” (Ezekiel 34:17). In St. Matthew’s Gospel, Christ the King judges all humanity as to how we have responded to the invitation to love the weak, the poor, the wounded, the lonely, the hungry, the thirsty, the little ones. For those that respond well, using their free will in accord with their faith and the virtue of love, they are told: “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). It is a remarkable and amazing reality.
In 1942, at Oxford University, C.S. Lewis delivered an essay entitled, “The Weight of Glory.” In that essay, he writes about this amazing call that we have been given, to share the very life of God and to enter into His glory. He says that there may be a danger for me to think too much of my own glory (isn’t there always a danger of this), but what is not possible is for me to think too much of my neighbor’s glory. To want them to enter more deeply into the life of God and to share in God’s kingdom is always a project we can throw ourselves completely into.
But, C.S. Lewis writes, because of this call to share in God’s glorious kingdom, we must also realize that there are no “ordinary” people. No, he says, you have never met an “ordinary” person. Those that we meet each day, those we marry, or ignore, or work with, ride the train with or pass by in the street, they are not “ordinary.” They are men and women destined to share in the glory of God, or what he calls potentially hideous creatures because they may have rejected that awesome call. He says everyone we meet could be someone so glorious and marvelous that, if we were to see them now as they one day will be, we would be tempted to fall down and worship them; or someone so hideous, because they have become what God never intended, that they would be something we would find only in a nightmare.
Every day, writes C.S. Lewis, we are helping each other to one or the other of these two possible ends. In the choices that we make, and in the things we do, how we use our reason and freedom, act on faith, are inspired to love, we help our neighbor towards one of these two directions.
As we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe, we pray for the grace to make the right decisions, to live our lives well by the way we relate to God and those around us. Because we are not ruled and governed by the “Wheel of Fortune,” but by the will of God. We are called to share in His eternal reign and His eternal glory, and to help our neighbor to share in that same awesome reality.
