Rich Princes and Princesses in Christ

“All glorious is the king’s daughter as she enters; her raiment is threaded with spun gold.”

Boys and girls, what do you call the daughter of a king? … And what are princesses like? How do you think they live?

And who is the King of kings? … We are His sons and daughters, yes or no? … So, if we are sons and daughters of a King, what does that make us? … So, if we’re supposed to be princes and princesses in Christ, and princes and princesses are supposed to live these awesome lives, then why does Jesus say, “Blessed are the poor”? Why does Jesus say, “Blessed are the hungry and the weeping”? Why does Jesus say, “Blessed are you when people hate you”?

Jesus knew what it was like to be rich. He had everything He could ever want when He was with the Father—all honor, all glory, all power. But he emptied himself of all of that when he became man. He emptied himself precisely so that he could be poor, so that he could experience hunger and sorrow, so that people could hate him. But as St. Paul said, because of this humility, God the Father highly exalted him above every other name. Christ could only become rich if he became poor first. And so it is with us.

But don’t worry! You’ve already become poor with Jesus once before! Many of you are baptized, and when you’re baptized, you share in Christ’s death. And you might not remember this, but after you were baptized, you were wrapped in this beautiful white garment, to signify the beautiful dress of a heavenly princess, or the stunning cape of a heavenly prince.

So, boys and girls, I’m telling you this because I’m saying that you have everything you could ever want already. You’re already princes and princesses with the glory of sons and daughters of God. And that means that even though you have the best pencil in the whole class, if someone needs to borrow a pencil, let him borrow it, because you’re a rich prince, a rich princess of God. If you see someone sitting by herself at lunch, sit with her; you have nothing to lose because you’re already rich in Christ.

Christ is about to empty himself yet again by taking on the form of bread and wine. As we prepare to become rich in that gift, let’s pray about different ways we can share our things with the kids around us, since we’re already so rich in Jesus.