Fourth Sunday after Trinity Augustine on Psalm XXIV

O GOD, the protector of all that trust in thee, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy; Increase and multiply upon us thy mercy; that, thou being our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Collect Source: Sacramentary of Bishop Gregory of Rome [ca 600AD].

Psalms 19, 20 | 24, 25 ; Romans viii. 18   &  St. Luke vi. 36

Homily of Augustine on Psalm XXIV

Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.

---

 
Trinity Four Comment

There is a beautiful icon of the Risen Christ with the inscription, "King of Glory"  in the Chapel of the Centurions at Legio Christi.  It shows the risen Christ as High Priest and King. This is an historic type of icon of our Lord, who is "powerful in battle".  Let us hear the last paragraph of a wonderful little homily by Augustine on this psalm,

 "Who is this King of glory?" What! dost thou too, prince of the power of this air, marvel and ask, "Who is this King of glory?" "The Lord of powers, He is the King of glory" . Yea, His Body now quickened, He who was tempted marches above thee; He who was tempted by the angel, the deceiver, goes above all angels. Let none of you put himself before us and stop our way, that he may be worshipped as a god by us: neither principality, nor angel, nor power, separateth us from the love of Christ.  It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in a prince;  that he who glorieth, should glory in the Lord.These indeed are powers in the administration of this world, but "the Lord of powers, He is the King of glory."

This is one of the central images of Christ that the early Church kept. It was not until the Medieval era that the Church of the West began to focus on the crucified and suffering Christ. The glorified risen Christ is the same  that Paul preached  in [1Co 15:19-42]  which is one of the passages and the overall theme of the Order's Memorial page.

Christ the King is risen, and rules at the right hand of God, He is the King of Glory, The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. He shall save his elect everlasting from every  adversary.  As Gregory's collect says,

O GOD, the protector of all that trust in thee, without whom nothing is strong

finis

--
Released by Primus Pilus
Legio Christi-Ecclesia Militans
"Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another" [St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans 14:19]

* ORDO CENTURIONUM * IN HOC SIGNO VINCES * TIME DEUM ET OPERARE IUSTITIAM