The Feast of St. Andrew, Monday, November 30, 2020

Matthew 4:18-22

As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.

We learn from the Gospel of St. John that Andrew was a follower of John the Baptist.  After the baptism of Jesus, at which Andrew must have been present, John the Baptist called Jesus “the Lamb of God”, and Andrew decided to trail him to find out who this was.  Jesus finally turned and asked Andrew what he was looking for.  We ought to try to imagine the instant that the eyes of the two men met for the first time.  Whatever Andrew thought he might say, all he could get out was, “Rabbi, where are you staying?”  Andrew did not hear from John the Baptist that Jesus was a “rabbi”: he must have seen in the Lord’s eyes a strength and wisdom that far surpassed anyone else’s.  This alone entitled him to be called “rabbi”.  Andrew must also have wondered at the voice that came from this man.  He had said: “Come and see.”  Andrew would have known him as a fellow Galilean by his accent.  But what was he doing down in Judea?  The man was not a disciple of John the Baptist, and he lived in a crude lean-to of fallen tree branches and logs along the Jordan.  Also, the answer the man gave him was laconic, even terse.  The man clearly was not trying to impress anyone.  And yet John the Baptist had called him “the Lamb of God”.  St. John, later an Apostle, accompanied Andrew to the place where Jesus stayed, and he tells us that they talked for several hours.  John does not tell us what they talked about.  Probably, we can guess, about the teachings of the Prophets about the Messiah.  We can surmise this because John the Baptist had many times announced that he had come to prepare Israel for the Messiah.  John’s followers would be watching for him.  After talking with Jesus, Andrew is a new man.  With great excitement he brings his older brother Simon to meet Jesus.  We do not know how long this initial encounter between Jesus, Simon, Andrew, and John the son of Zebedee lasted.  Perhaps a day or two.  Maybe longer.  But the Lord performs no miracle at this time.  Nor does the Lord present himself as a learned preacher living in a rich man’s house.  These men are attracted to Jesus simply by his personality and his words.  Later, Simon, Andrew, and John will return to the Sea of Galilee.  Do they follow Jesus to Capernaum or does Jesus follow them, like a shepherd following his sheep?  And then comes the early morning scene captured by St. Matthew in which Jesus calls to Andrew and Simon at the time when they would be least likely to follow him, and still they do.

From the hints in the Gospels, we learn that Andrew, who lived with his brother, his brother’s wife, and the wife’s mother, was not married at the time he was called.  This in turn tells us that he was a younger man, not yet of marrying age.  Since this is Simon’s house, we can infer that their father, John, is already deceased.  It is entirely possible that Andrew, like the also young sons of Zebedee, James and John, remained unmarried throughout his life.  At some point after Pentecost, perhaps within three years, Andrew seems to have left Jerusalem.  Tradition tells us that he preached the Gospel in Greece and that he was crucified there during the reign of the Emperor Nero.  When Andrew was brought to the cross on which he would be bound, he is said to have embraced it and to have said to it, “God bless you, precious cross, be welcome to the follower of Him that hung on you, even my Master Christ.”  These words are used in the office for his feast.

 

 The First Sunday of Advent, November 29, 2020

Mark 13:33–37

Jesus said to his disciples: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come. It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his own work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch. Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’ ”

Today we enter the Church season known as “Advent”.  This is the four Sunday period before the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord — Christmas — and can last from between twenty-one and twenty-eight days.  This year it will last twenty-six days.  Just as in the case of the season of Lent, Advent began as local observances of varying numbers of days or weeks.  By the early Middle Ages it had become settled, by various regional councils, to five Sundays.  Pope St. Gregory VII, who ruled from 1073-85, is responsible for the current number of four Sundays.

While this season is mostly known as a time of preparation for Christmas, especially since the later Middle Ages, we see from the Gospel readings that it is also a time for the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus.  Thus, we can understand the season as pointing us in the direction of the past, the present, and the future: the past, as in the historical Birth of Christ; the present, as in his Sacramental coming amongst us during the Holy Mass; and the future, as when the Lord comes in glory to judge the living and the dead.  Each of these helps us to understand the others.  The humble comings at Bethlehem and in the Holy Mass prepare us for the glorious coming in the future.  The coming at Mass helps us to understand that the blessed will be in intimate Union with the Lord when he comes again.  The glory of the Second Coming enables us to understand something of what actually happened two thousand years ago when God became man and dwelt with us, as well as who it is whom we receive at Holy Communion.

“Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.”  These words of the Lord are an essential part of his core message to us.  We are told that after his baptism by John the Baptist, he went into the towns and villages of Israel proclaiming, “The time is accomplished and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.”  The words, ““Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come”, complete the sense.  The kingdom of God is approaching, but you do not know the time when it will arrive.  Therefore, keep watch!

We might wonder why the Lord tells us to keep watch.  After all, he will come whether we are watching or not.  Jesus means by “be watchful” that we should live our lives in view of the great judgment to come.  As St. Peter reminds us, “And if the just man shall scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1 Peter 4, 18).  That is, it will be with difficulty that even those who are keeping watch will be saved; what will happen to those who live their lives carelessly?

“It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his own work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.”  Jesus presents this simile of a wealthy man with a household, land that must be tilled, and animals that must be fed.  He feels confident in placing his servants in charge because they have been trained and also found to be loyal.  In other words, they know what their jobs are and how to do them.  They can be sure of reward when the landowner returns and finds everything in order, but also of punishment if he does not.  These are slaves, we should note, and not paid servants.  Because they are slaves, their position is particularly precarious.  The landowner could come back, find something amiss, and have all of the slaves beaten, resold, or killed.  The gatekeeper’s job is of great importance inasmuch as it is he who will send the trumpet or ring the bell that will bring the slaves before the returning master to render an account of their work to him.

“You do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning.”  The Fathers understood this line as referring to the stages of a person’s life: “evening” meant in middle age; “midnight”, in old age; “cockcrow”, in childhood; and “morning”, in one’s youth.  Here, we see not the Second Coming, but the coming of judgment at the end of an individual’s life.  

“May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.”  This sounds harsh because sleep is necessary for all.  But the Lord means here to warn those who sleep during the day, when it is necessary to work.  Those who use the landowner’s apparent absence as an excuse for misbehavior or sleeping on the job will suffer for it.  “Sleeping” can also be understood as being in a state of sin, for sleep is equated with death in the Old Testament (“he slept with his fathers” is a common phrase referring to the death of a king), and death is equated with sin in the New Testament (it is the “first death” as distinct from the “second death” of Revelation 20, 14).  

“What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’ ”  The Lord says this not only to his Apostles and to all Christians, but to all people through their consciences, for everyone possesses a conscience, and our consciences, unless so worn away by constant and willful sinfulness, tell us that certain acts are wicked and that we will get into trouble of some kind if we perform them.  St. Paul writes of this in Romans 1, 18-22.  

We ought to be “watchers”, then: watchers of ourselves lest we fall through carelessness or malice, and watchers of those in our charge so that they may not be lost through sin — sin that resounds to us, along with its punishment.  And let us keep in mind as we look back in history to the Baby born in the muck of a stable outside of Bethlehem, that we shall stand before him when he returns with the angels in great power.

 Saturday in the 34th Week of Ordinary Time, November 28, 2020

Revelation 22:1-7

John said: An angel showed me the river of life-giving water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the street.  On either side of the river grew the tree of life that produces fruit twelve times a year, once each month; the leaves of the trees serve as medicine for the nations. Nothing accursed will be found anymore. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will look upon his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more, nor will they need light from lamp or sun, for the Lord God shall give them light, and they shall reign forever and ever.  And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true, and the Lord, the God of prophetic spirits, sent his angel to show his servants what must happen soon.” “Behold, I am coming soon.” Blessed is the one who keeps the prophetic message of this book.

With this reading from the Book of Revelation, we pass into the season of Advent and so there will be no more of it.  For all practical purposes, though, the book is completed at this point as only a few more verses remain, and these can be readily understood.  In this reading we are deep into the seventh vision which St. John received.  It is one of the most serene parts of the whole Bible, perhaps excepting the wisdom books, and it fills us with hope.  The vision of heaven and of the Church Victorious presented here sustained the martyrs in their trials and missionaries in their work.  

“An angel showed me the river of life-giving water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the street.”  The Fathers see this river as the grace that flows to the blessed from God.  John speaks of “the throne” of God and of the Lamb, not “thrones”: the unity of the Persons of the Holy Trinity is signified by the single throne.  Some of the Fathers particularly see this river of “life-giving water” as the font of baptism from which all holy water derives its holiness.  “On either side of the river grew the tree of life.”  The reference here is to the tree of life in the Garden of Eden from which Adam and Eve did not eat and which was guarded by an angel with a fiery sword.  This is in fact the Cross, and also the Lord Jesus himself under the sign of a fruit-bearing tree.  “That produces fruit twelve times a year, once each month.”  That is to say, continually and always.  The Venerable Bede says of this tree and its fruit: “It can also be simply understood as the Cross of Christ bearing fruit through the teaching of the twelve Apostles”, and subsequently through their successors.  St. Albert the Great uses the twelve “courses” of fruits throughout the year to teach of the twelve fruits of eternal life offered to the elect: soundness without corruption; plentiful energy without failing; rest without weariness; knowledge without ignorance; joy without sadness; security without fear; peace without disturbance; freedom without servitude; joy in the justice of God in the condemnation of the wicked; praise without ceasing; joy concerning the multitude of the saints; and delight in the vision of God.

“The leaves of the trees serve as medicine for the nations.”  As well as producing fruit, trees bring forth leaves.  These “leaves” are the commandments and teachings of the Lord for the healing of the nations.  Nations seek to protect and heal themselves with large armies and expensive social programs, but ultimately nothing helps unless the citizens of the nations of the world follow the teachings handed over to them by God himself, and are zealous for his glory.  

“Nothing accursed will be found.” anymore.  The gifts given to the human race at the beginning became “curses” with the fall of humanity in the original sin.  Thus, the blessing of sharing in God’s care for the garden of the world became “cursed”.  As God said to Adam, “Cursed is the earth in your work: with labor and toil shall you eat thereof all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, and you shall eat the herbs of the earth.  In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread till you return to the earth out of which you were taken: for dust you are, and into dust you shall return” (Genesis 3, 17-19).  Now, by the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of the Son of God, all is restored and even glorified.  The blessed attain the life with God that was meant for us from the beginning. 

“The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.”  The blessed will be completely free to worship God with all their hearts and souls, resulting in eternal happiness.  “They will look upon his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.”  They will see him as he is.  As St. John says in another place, “We know that when he shall appear we shall be like to him: because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3, 2).  His name on their “foreheads” refers to their belonging to him through their baptism.  “Night will be no more, nor will they need light from lamp or sun, for the Lord God shall give them light.”  There is only eternal day in heaven.  Another way to think of this is that heaven is a realm utterly different from the physical world with its stars and planets.  “Night” here can also be understood as “ignorance”:  all secrets will be revealed, all knowledge freed up.  The blessed in heaven will at last understand the workings of Divine Providence in their lives and in human history.  This seems validated by the words that follow, “The Lord God shall give them light.”  “And they shall reign forever and ever.”  The Greek text says, “unto the ages of ages”, which we understand as meaning “time unending” or “forever”.  The duplication is a Hebrew way of emphasizing the greatness or lengthiness of a thing.  We use this device in English in such phrases as “your show of shows” (the name of an old radio program) or “the day of days”.    

“These words are trustworthy and true.”  John insisted in his Gospel, his letters, and here in the record of his visions that that which was revealed to him, and his own witness of these revealed things, “is trustworthy and true” (cf. John 22, 24 and 1 John 1, 1).  As a side note, the very coherence and consistency of these dense and complex visions within themselves and taken together demonstrates that they are “trustworthy and true”, that is, that these are the things that were experienced, and they are written down in a reliable way.  “To show his servants what must happen soon.”  Not quickly, but “soon”.  But as St. Peter writes, “But of this one thing be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3, 8).

“Blessed is the one who keeps the prophetic message of this book.”  What is the message of this book?  For those without faith, there is no message, no meaning.  For those who have it, the prophetic message is clear: Hold out to the end, cleave to Jesus, persevere under trial, for the wicked, your oppressors and persecutors, will be destroyed and you will be rewarded for your faith.  That is is the message of this book.

 

Friday in the 34th Week of Ordinary Time, November 27, 2020

Revelation 20:1-4, 11—21:2

I, John, saw an angel come down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a heavy chain. He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, which is the Devil or Satan, and tied it up for a thousand years and threw it into the abyss, which he locked over it and sealed, so that it could no longer lead the nations astray until the thousand years are completed. After this, it is to be released for a short time. Then I saw thrones; those who sat on them were entrusted with judgment. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image nor had accepted its mark on their foreheads or hands. They came to life and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Next I saw a large white throne and the one who was sitting on it. The earth and the sky fled from his presence and there was no place for them. I saw the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. Then another scroll was opened, the book of life. The dead were judged according to their deeds, by what was written in the scrolls. The sea gave up its dead; then Death and Hades gave up their dead. All the dead were judged according to their deeds. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the pool of fire. (This pool of fire is the second death.) Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the pool of fire.  Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

The sixth vision in the Book of Revelation concludes with the Battle of Armageddon, described in the three verses of 19, 19-21, and its aftermath, with a mention of the great judgment at the end of time and the damnation of the beasts, the dragon, and those mortals who belonged to him.  The seventh and final vision in the Book of Revelation is comprised of Chapters 21-22, in which the New Jerusalem is revealed and described, and the delights of the just are spoken of.  It ends with the warning and promise of Christ that he is “coming soon”.  St. John probably received these visions over a period of time, whether over the course of a week, a month, or a couple of months, just as the Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel received their visions not all at once but spread over time.  John implies as much when he writes at various places, “And then I saw, etc.”  It stands to reason that if he had seen it all at once, he could not have remembered it all or kept the events straight in his head.  Indeed, the experience of a single vision must have staggered him.  The Holy Spirit would have aided him even so, but the Spirit prompts, inspires, and guides; he does not dictate and in no way does he replace the human author.  John almost certainly would have dictated the content of the visions to a secretary.  The use of secretaries (or scribes) by the Apostles is well attested.  St. Paul occasionally gives the names of some of the men who took down his letters, and once the secretary writing for him introduces himself.  Peter’s use of St. Mark as a secretary is attested to by both St. Irenaeus and St. Jerome.  

“I, John, saw an angel come down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a heavy chain.”  This angel is the Son of God who “comes down” from heaven in his Incarnation in order to overthrow and chain the devil.  “He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, which is the Devil or Satan.”  The enemy of mankind is called a “dragon” because of his ferocity; a “serpent” on account of his guile; “the Devil”, from a Greek word meaning “slanderer” or “accuser”; and “Satan”, from an ancient Hebrew word for “accuser”.  “And tied it up for a thousand years and threw it into the abyss.”  This verse has been the occasion of much confusion by those who read it without understanding.  From the beginning of Chapter 20 and continuing to its end, the vision recapitulates the history of the salvation wrought by the Lord Jesus from the time of his Incarnation until the last judgment.  The “thousand years” mentioned here is that period of human history.  We are to understand this number as a sign rather than as indicating an actual number of years.  The ancient Jews and Christians understood the world as passing through six ages (or “years” or “days”).  The first begins with Adam, the second with Noah, the third with Abraham, the fourth with Moses, the fifth with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.  The sixth begins with the coming of the Lord Jesus among us.  We are living in this age.  The seventh age or year or day will be the eternal Sabbath, beginning immediately after the last judgment.  Each of these periods was said to endure for “a thousand years” as a general way of conveying their lengths.  The Lord overcame Satan by his Death on the Cross and currently “chains” him, that is, he restricts his power by the coming of the grace into the world by which the faithful might resist him.  “Which he locked over it and sealed, so that it could no longer lead the nations astray until the thousand years are completed.”  Satan’s power before the time of the Lord’s Incarnation was so great that he could “lead the nations astray” in all sorts of riotous idolatrous practices such as orgies and human sacrifice.  

“After this, it is to be released for a short time.”  This occurs near the end of the world.  The Venerable Bede comments: “If he should never be loosed, his malign power would be less manifest, the most faithful patience of the holy city would be less proven, and finally, the less would it be discerned how well almighty God used the devil's great evil.”  That is, God shows forth his great glory in allowing us to fully see and understand the total malignancy of the Devil, but also in the perseverance of his Saints against such ferocious evil, and in how the Devil is powerless, despite the appearance of his power, to prevent the growth of the Church.  Here it is useful to recall the Lord’s words: “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it [my Church]” (Matthew 16, 18).  

“Then I saw thrones; those who sat on them were entrusted with judgment.”  This brings to mind the words of the Lord to his Apostles: “Amen I say to you, that you who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19, 28).  “I also saw the souls . . . They came to life and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”  John backtracks a bit here and tells how he saw the souls of the martyrs who went to heaven directly upon their deaths and “reigned” with Christ during the remainder of the present age.  

The lectionary reading skips ahead several verses at his point.  Let us look, though, at the important verse 5 of Chapter 20: “The rest of the dead lived not, till the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.”  The Saints go to heaven after they die.  The wicked “live not”, for they go to hell when they die.  What happened immediately to the soul after death was a great question, particularly for the Gentile Christians.  St. Paul deals with it extensively in his letters to the Thessalonians.

“Next I saw a large white throne and the one who was sitting on it. The earth and the sky fled from his presence and there was no place for them.”  Having skipped over several verses, the lectionary takes us to the time of the final judgment.  Bede has a prescient comment on the fleeing of the earth and sky: “Indeed, after the carrying out of the judgment, this means that heaven and earth cease to be when, by the changing of things, but not in any way by their destruction, a new heaven and a new earth begin.  ‘The form of this world is passing away’ (1 Corinthians 7, 31) — he says, ‘form’, not substance.  It is to be believed that the same things are to be changed into better things.”  The heavens and the earth will not be destroyed, but changed into new heavens and a new earth.  

“I saw the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. Then another scroll was opened, the book of life.”  This is the final image John sees of the great judgment.  “All the dead were judged according to their deeds.”  The necessity of performing good works while we are alive.  We also recall that, “For even as the body without the spirit is dead: so also faith without works is dead” (James 2, 26).  

“Then Death and Hades were thrown into the pool of fire. (This pool of fire is the second death).”  “Death” is personified here.  “Hades” was both the Greek name for the place of the dead, and of the god who ruled over it.  Perhaps this name is used for a chief lieutenant in Satan’s kingdom.  “The second death”.  The “first” death is that which we suffer at the end of our lives on earth, or, alternately, it means the death of the soul with mortal sin.    “Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the pool of fire.”  Bede: “He who was not judged as ‘living’ by God.”  This fire, of a kind not to be imagined on the earth, will burn both body and soul.  It will never go out, it will never lessen, and there will be no respite for those engulfed in it.  

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.”  Note how abruptly the final vision begins following the end of the one preceding it.  The chapter divisions made in the early 1200’s help us very much here.  It truly is a new vision.  Gone now are images of destruction, slaughter, plague, and persecution.  There are no more monstrous beasts or dragons.  It is as though a tremendous storm has past and the sky has quickly cleared.  For lovers of good music, this might evoke the catastrophic end to the first movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and the calm beginning of the second movement.  It is jarring, rattling.  There is no way to prepare for it.  And such will be the case when the judgment occurs and is ended, with the utter disappearance of the wicked and the revealing of a new world of stupendous beauty.  “The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.”  The beauty of the new heavens and earth is such no comparison is possible between them and the old, and no familiar places.  

“I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”  It is God who has built this City, this habitation for his loved ones, and so no flaw exists in it, nothing that is not perfect.  There is nothing in it that can be more stunning than it is.  This is the Church Victorious.  The image of the bride and her husband remind us of words written long, long ago: “A man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh” (Genesis 2, 24).  The Lord who “left” his Father in heaven in order to bring the Church, his bride, to his home, “cleaves” to her in an intimacy the merest shadow of a sign of which is that between husband and wife.

This Book, and particularly these last few chapters, make great demands upon the reader.  I hope that these explanations have provided some clarity.  If anyone has any questions about any of this, feel free to email me or to ask in the comments section.

 

 

 Thursday in the 34th Week of Ordinary Time, November 27, 2020

Revelation 18:1-2, 21-23; 19:1-3, 9a

And after these things, I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power: and the earth was enlightened with his glory. And he cried out with a strong voice, saying: “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen.”  And a mighty angel took up a stone, as it were a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying: With such violence as this, shall Babylon, that great city, be thrown down and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers and of musicians and of them that play on the pipe and on the trumpet shall no more be heard at all in you: and no craftsman of any art whatsoever shall be found any more at all in you: and the sound of the mill shall be heard no more at all in you: And the light of the lamp shall shine no more at all in you: and the voice of the bridegroom and the bride shall be heard no more at all in you. For your merchants were the great men of the earth: for all nations have been deceived by your enchantments.  [And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all that were slain upon the earth.]  After these things, I heard as it were the voice of much people in heaven, saying: Alleluia. Salvation and glory and power is to our God. For true and just are his judgments, who has judged the great harlot which corrupted the earth with her fornication and has revenged the blood of his servants, at her hands. And again they said: Alleluia. And her smoke ascends for ever and ever. And he said to me: Write: Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

The lectionary presents this reading from the Book of Revelation as the first reading for today’s Mass.  it is a bit chopped up as it gives us a few lines of the beginning of Chapter 18, then a few lines from the end of that chapter, and then a few lines from the beginning of Chapter 19.  Significantly as well as strangely, the final verse of Chapter 18 has been left out.  The reading plus this excised verse (indicated here as enclosed within brackets) is offered here in the Douay Rheims translation, modified by replacing the use of “thee, thy, thou” with the modern equivalents and the old “-st” endings to the verbs.  It is advisable for understanding this reading to read through the relatively short Chapters 18 and 19 in their entirety.

The sixth vision of the Book of Revelation is comprised of Chapters 18-20, and is concerned with the judgment of the wicked city, Babylon, which is the earthly city.  The seventh vision, from which we will have readings on Friday and Saturday of this week, is concerned with the events which will happen at the very end of time, including the final confrontation with evil, and the reward of the just. The short chapters that make up that vision, 21-22, should also be read together.

“I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power: and the earth was enlightened with his glory.”  This vision describes in a different way events of which we have already learned in previous visions, particularly the last.  It is important, then, to understand that this new vision is distinct from but in some ways related to the previous ones.  Now, this angel is the Lord Jesus Christ.  “And he cried out with a strong voice, saying: ‘Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen.’ ”  It is clear from the text of the vision that this “Babylon” is not the actual city (which by St. John’s time had been in ruins and uninhabited for centuries) but rather the power of the devil on earth (the “earthly city”, filled with its citizens, the allies of the evil one).  The power of the devil appears in Revelation primarily as the dragon in Chapter 12, fighting viciously against the Church and her faithful, and as “Babylon” or as the “great harlot”.  The devil, who went into hiding after the battle in Chapter 12, and thereafter fought against God and his Church through his agents the beasts, comes out again openly at the very end of time.  The Lord here announces the end of the devil’s power to harm the righteous.  “And a mighty angel took up a stone, as it were a great millstone, and cast it into the sea.”  This angel is also the Lord Jesus, who takes up a millstone and casts in the sea.  St. Albert the Great comments that this “millstone” is the multitude of the wicked, called a “millstone” because of how hardened the wicked are in their sinfulness.  The salty “sea” is the bitterness of hell.  “With such violence as this, shall Babylon, that great city, be thrown down and shall be found no more at all.”  These are the words of the angel, that is, the Lord.  He is saying that Babylon shall fall very quickly, very violently, and very completely.  It shall be found “no more at all” — its time to do penance is over.  

“And the voice of harpers and of musicians and of them that play on the pipe and on the trumpet shall no more be heard at all in you.”  That is, there shall be no consolation for the damned in hell, but only the sounds of moaning and groaning.  “No craftsman of any art whatsoever shall be found any more at all in you.”  The damned will be utterly unable to help themselves.  “The sound of the mill shall be heard no more at all in you.”  Nothing delightful to the taste will remain to the damned, nor to the sight: “And the light of the lamp shall shine no more at all in you”; nor to the ear: “The voice of the bridegroom and the bride shall be heard no more at all in you.”  “For your merchants were the great men of the earth: for all nations have been deceived by your enchantments.”  These merchants traded their souls and spiritual goods for worldly things.  Here, the Lord is speaking to the damned in a way that paraphrases what he says to the condemned in Matthew 25, 42-43: You traded your opportunities for doing good for your own convenience and the pursuit of passing goods.  “Great men”: “Great” in the eyes of the worldly.  Notice That the Lord says, “your” great men, that is, not mine.  “For all nations, etc.”  Albert points out that this means “some people from all nations” rather than “all people from every nation”.

“And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all that were slain upon the earth.”  This is the verse excised from the reading.  Perhaps this was done because it was thought to be too graphic for some folks.   Whatever the excuse, the cutting out of passages like this cannot be justified.  The Venerable Bede has this astute comment on this verse: “Which city killed not only the prophets, and all the saints, but also the apostles?  The city which Cain founded by the blood of his brother, and which he called by the name of his son, Enoch, that is, of all his posterity (cf. Genesis 4, 17).  Seven generations of Cain are described.  In the building of his city is shed all the just blood from the blood of Abel even to the blood of Zachariah (cf. Matthew 23, 35).  That is, of both layman and priest.”

“After these things, I heard as it were the voice of much people in heaven.”  This is the sound of the angels and saints of God, rejoicing together in heaven over the Lord’s victory over evil.  “Alleluia. Salvation and glory and power is to our God.”  Our word “alleluia” is the Latinized “hallelujah”, a Hebrew word that means something like, “Praise to the Lord”.  The words of the holy ones tell us that “salvation, glory, and power” belong absolutely to God and to no one else, and are his to share.  “For true and just are his judgments, who has judged the great harlot which corrupted the earth with her fornication.”  The end of the “great harlot” — the devil’s power under another aspect — is described in Chapter 17.  The Book of Revelation can be understood as the conflict of two women: the Church, as signified by the woman with the crown of stars in Chapter 12, and Satan’s power, as signified by the “harlot” in Chapter 17.  These are shown again as cities: “Babylon”, as in Chapter 18, and the New Jerusalem, as in Chapters 20-21.  “And has revenged the blood of his servants, at her hands.”  “Revenged” in the sense of having carried out justice.  Technically, “revenge” means getting even on one’s own over a personal injury.  The sense here is that God has exercised justice, as is his right, on the wicked agents of the devil who persecuted and killed those who belonged to Christ.

“Alleluia. And her smoke ascends for ever and ever.”  The “smoke” indicating the continuous and eternal punishment of the wicked in hell.  It “ascends” in that the elect are aware of God’s justice: they know the evil of the world are suffering punishment for what they have done. 

“Write: Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”  This is the message of the Gospels and of the New Testament in general.  This marriage supper is spoken of by the Lord in a parables such as in Matthew 22, 2-24.  We recall that, as the Lord said at the end of this parable, as a sort of moral: “Many are called but few are chosen.”  That is to say, all people are called, but few show up.  These few, the righteous, are then “chosen”, that is, judged as worthy, to enter the spacious palace of heaven, there to enjoy the most marvelous delicacies.  They come because they have heard of the king, know him to be bounteous, and they are hungry.  Their hunger increases as they make their way to the palace, for they do not stop to eat a meal of their own making.  Those who refused to come believe themselves to be self-sufficient and “autonomous”, and not dependent on anyone.  Rather than admit that they are hungry because they in fact cannot provide for themselves, they reject the invitation to eat with the king.

We are told beforehand throughout Revelation that the perseverance of the followers of Christ will be tried, but for it to grow, and that our hunger for his marriage supper may likewise grow.  The book tells us repeatedly that those who hold on tight will be saved, admitted to the heavenly courts, and that the wicked will suffer in faraway hell.  Let us enlarge our appetite for the good things of God’s table by meditating about them, and our hunger for God will be our salvation. 

 Wednesday in the 34th Week Of Ordinary Time, November 25, 2020

Revelation 15:1-4

I, John, saw in heaven another sign, great and awe-inspiring: seven angels with the seven last plagues, for through them God’s fury is accomplished. Then I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire. On the sea of glass were standing those who had won the victory over the beast and its image and the number that signified its name. They were holding God’s harps, and they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: “Great and wonderful are your works, Lord God almighty. Just and true are your ways, O king of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, or glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All the nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

The fifth of the seven visions that comprise the Book of Revelation begins with the words of this reading in Chapter 15 and continues through Chapter 18.  In this vision we see the judgment of the wicked in the seven angels with the vials of the seven last plagues, and also the New Jerusalem, prepared for the just.  

“I, John, saw in heaven another sign, great and awe-inspiring: seven angels with the seven last plagues.”  The Venerable Bede and others saw these “angels” as preachers or the Church, and the “plagues” as judgments or punishments threatened upon the wicked.  The number seven, indicating universality, meant all preachers, or the whole Church.  These plagues are called “the last” either because they are the final plagues, or that they will be poured out on the last of the wicked, or that these will be the worst of the plagues.  “For through them God’s fury is accomplished.”  God does not feel anger, but that which comes from him can be experienced as anger if a person suffers from it.  Thus, a bitter man may be further embittered when someone tells him he loves him, and the embittered man experiences this as an increase in his suffering.  God’s fury is “accomplished” when the wicked are punished forever.

“Then I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire.”  Since John sees this vision in heaven, this would be the same sea of glass he saw in the second vision in Chapter 4: it is the crystal sphere which divides the earthly sky from the heaven of the angels and saints.  The Fathers understand this “sea” as a sign of baptism, and its “fiery” aspect is a sign of martyrdom, signified by the red color of fire.  “On the sea of glass were standing those who had won the victory over the beast and its image and the number that signified its name.”  These are the martyrs who overcame their persecution for the sake of the Lamb of God.  In Chapter 6 they appeared under the altar which was set amongst the Persons of the Holy Trinity, and they cried out for justice.  “The beast and its image”.  John describes this “beast” in 13, 1-3: “coming up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns: and upon his horns, ten diadems: and upon his heads, names of blasphemy . . . One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed”  This beast is a travesty of the Lamb of God, which John describes as “standing, as it were slain, having seven horns and seven eyes” (Revelation 5, 6).  A second beast acted as the prophet of the first, and this beast made an image of the first which he caused to be worshipped.  Thus, a travesty of the Holy Trinity.  The first beast is the Antichrist.  It calls itself the Son of God and performs great marvels so that most of the world runs after it.  Many of the faithful will be put to death in the persecution against those who resist the beast and do not receive “the number that signified its name”, as a sign of its ownership of them.  This number is 666, which is another travesty since the number 6 is a perfect number (1+2+3=6: it is the sum of its parts).  And so this horrific, blaspheming beast takes on the disguise of something good in order to more readily attract followers and lure them to their destruction.

“They were holding God’s harps.”  The triumphant martyrs who cried to God for his grace in their sufferings and who pleaded for justice up to the time of judgment, now are prepared to sing “the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb”.  That is, the song which Moses sang after God saved Israel by destroying the Egyptian forces in the Red Sea (cf. Exodus 15, 1-19).  The Song of the Lamb may be the hymn sung in praise of the Lamb in Revelation 5, 9, or it might also be the Song of Moses, which is understood spiritually as the Lord’s song in his victory over death.  The martyrs, by sharing in Christ’s Death, as signified by their standing upon the fiery sea of glass, likewise share in his song of triumph.  “Great and wonderful are your works, Lord God almighty.”  This verse brings to mind Psalm 8, 1.  In this psalm, the psalmist is beside himself in wonder at the wonders God has wrought.  “Who will not fear you or glorify your name?”  The wicked offer no respect or glory to God and are cast into the outer darkness.  These are not mentioned in the hymn because they are not even a distant memory now.  “For you alone are holy.”  Even pretending to be God, the beast — the Antichrist — only pretended to have power, not holiness.  “All the nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”  That is, the righteous of all the nations will do this: “And the nations shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into it” (Revelation 21, 24).

St. Paul reminds us: “Life is Christ and death is gain” (Philippians 1, 21).  If we engrave these words in our hearts through faith and good works, we need not fear the empty, twisted, faked glory of the Antichrist and his minions, but rather look forward to the true glory that will be revealed when the Lord comes again.

 Tuesday in the 34th Week of Ordinary Time, November 24, 2020

Revelation 14:14-19

I, John, looked and there was a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud one who looked like a son of man, with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Another angel came out of the temple, crying out in a loud voice to the one sitting on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap the harvest, for the time to reap has come, because the earth’s harvest is fully ripe.” So the one who was sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven who also had a sharp sickle. Then another angel came from the altar, who was in charge of the fire, and cried out in a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and cut the clusters from the earth’s vines, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and cut the earth’s vintage. He threw it into the great wine press of God’s fury.

The first reading for today’s Mass is a continuation of the fourth vision of the book and describes the Lord’s final judgment of the world.  

“There was a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud one who looked like a son of man.”  The Fathers understood the “cloud” on which the Lord would return as his Body or the Church, which amounts to the same thing because his Body is the Church.  Here, it is described particularly as a “white” cloud because this is the Church purified and victorious.  The Lord Jesus is described as looking “like” a son of man because, as St, Albert the Great tells us, he is now risen and his Body is spiritualized.  He is clearly more than a “son of man” in appearance, although the resemblance to a man remains.  He “sits” on the cloud, a sign that he has come either to teach or to judge.  “With a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.”  The circular form of the “crown” signifies eternity and the “gold” signifies nobility.  The “sharp sickle” in his hand brings to mind the words of one of his parables: “Permit both to grow until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn” (Matthew 13, 30).  The Venerable Bede says of this “sickle”: “This is the judicial sentence of the separation, which is certainly to take place.  No matter in what way we may attempt to flee, we are indeed within the sweep of that sickle.  Whatever is enclosed by the sickle, falls within it.” 

“Another angel came out of the temple, crying out in a loud voice to the one sitting on the cloud.”  We understand the “reapers” in the above mentioned parable as the angels.  Here, one speaks for the Father, whose voice is as incomprehensible thunder, so that we might understand the command.  “Use your sickle and reap the harvest, for the time to reap has come, because the earth’s harvest is fully ripe.”  In fact, the Greek word translated as “fully ripe” has the primary meaning of “to be dry”.  In Matthew 13, 6, in the parable of the sower and the seed, this word is used to say that the sprouts were “parched”.  The understanding being conveyed here is that only the fruit that has persevered through the heat and dryness of persecution is left standing.  All else is “parched” or burned up.

“So the one who was sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.”  We see now the gathering of the nations, of which the Lord spoke in Matthew 25, 32, when the good and the wicked are separated.  “Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven who also had a sharp sickle.”  A two-fold harvest is taking place here: one of grain and one of grapes.  Bede comments: “If Christ is seen on the cloud as a reaper, who is the grape harvester, except the same One, who properly claims the twin fruit of the Church?  For, he who sowed the good seed in his own field (cf. Matthew 13, 24) is the one who also planted a vine in his fruitful field (cf. Mark 12, 1-8).”  We see multiple images of Christ and of his Church in the Book of Revelation, sometimes simultaneously within the same scene, and this is true here.  These images help us to understand as best we can events which would otherwise be utterly beyond us.  These are heavenly realities, not earthly ones.  We might think of the difficulties faced by a visitor from the fourth dimension trying to explain to us three dimensional creatures what his world is like, should he even recognize us as alive and speak a language remotely like our own.  

“Then another angel came from the altar, who was in charge of the fire, and cried out in a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle.”  This angel signifies the martyrs who appeared in Revelation 6, 9-10: “I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord (Holy and True), do you not judge and revenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”  At the time, they were told to wait, and that the justice of God would be done at the proper time.  That time is now: “Use your sharp sickle and cut the clusters from the earth’s vines, for its grapes are ripe.”  The sins of the wicked are filled up, and the the just are filled with their virtues and good works.  “So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and cut the earth’s vintage. He threw it into the great wine press of God’s fury.”  A wine press crushes the grapes so that that which is good is preserved for wine, and that which is useless, the skins of the grapes, are taken away and dumped.  The good and the wicked are separated forever now, with the new wine carried away into the Lord’s blessed storehouses.

The final judgment is not a minor subject in the New Testament but one of the key matters which the Lord and his Apostles teach us about.  Indeed, the Gospel of Matthew is a continuous warning about the last days — a warning to repent and also to persevere in dire times.  It ought to be ever present in our minds as well, for this reason.  We ought not to become obsessed with this teaching, as some do, but aware in the same way as outside workers are aware of the descent of the sun at the close of day. 

 Monday in the 34th Week of Ordinary Time, November 23, 2020

Revelation 14:1–5

I beheld: and lo a Lamb stood upon mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty-four thousand, having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the noise of many waters and as the voice of great thunder. And the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers, harping on their harps. And they sung as it were a new canticle, before the throne and before the four living creatures and the ancients: and no man could say the canticle, but those hundred forty-four thousand who were purchased from the earth. These are they who were not defiled with women: for they are virgins. These follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes. These were purchased from among men, the first-fruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth there was found no lie: for they are without spot before the throne of God. 

The above is the first five verses of Revelation 14 in their entirety.  The reading for Mass excises the words “These are they who were not defiled with women: for they are virgins.”  Probably someone overseeing the reform of the lectionary felt the Word of God here was offensive and so they cut these words out.  The meaning of these words is, of course, important, and they will be explained in due time.  People who find the Word of God offensive ought to change themselves, not the Word of God.  The translation above, by the way, is from the Douay Rheims.

“I beheld: and lo a Lamb stood upon mount Sion.”  This verse and those that follow it belong to the fourth vision of the Book of Revelation. The first vision concerns the present state of the Church and its future, with warnings to do penance.  The second describes the history of the Church from the time of Christ until the final judgment.  The third concerns the preaching of the Church.  The fourth has to do with the birth of believers in the Faith, their persecution, and their safety in the Church.  This vision comprises chapters 12-14.  This verse, the first of chapter 14, shows the Lord Jesus standing upon the Church, “Mount Sion”, and protecting it.  And not only him, but “with him an hundred forty-four thousand, having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.”  The number is symbolic and means “fullness”, or, “the full amount”.  This is the totality of believers, male and female, Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians.  The name of the Father of the Lamb is written on their foreheads.  This picks up from Revelation 7:3–4, in which an angel says to those about to unleash the wrath of God upon the earth: “Hurt not the earth nor the sea nor the trees, till we sign the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them that were signed. An hundred forty-four thousand were signed, of every tribe of the children of Israel.”  This signifies that the Church is protected even while the world falls apart around it.  The signing of the name of the Father shows that these people openly belong to him as his possessions.

“And I heard a voice from heaven, as the noise of many waters and as the voice of great thunder.”  The Venerable Bede says that this is the voice of God, but we are not told what the voice says.  Perhaps the Father is speaking to the Lamb, his Son.  For a possible similarity, see John 12, 28-29.  “And the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers, harping on their harps. And they sung as it were a new canticle, before the throne and before the four living creatures and the ancients.”  These verses describe the new song sung by the Church.  The “new canticle” brings to mind the verse from the Psalm,”Sing to the Lord a new song” (Psalm 96, 1), which celebrates God’s salvation of Israel.  This is appropriate inasmuch as the Church is the New Israel.  “And they sung as it were a new canticle, before the throne and before the four living creatures and the ancients.”  One reason folks find the Book of Revelation difficult to read is that there is a plurality of signs for the same thing.  Here, the Church appears as the twenty-four elders, the four living creatures, and the multitude of 144,000.  The Church appears under the aspect of the elders, who signify the Church leaders.  Under the aspect of the living creatures we see the Church in her virtues.  In the 144,000 we see the Church in the fullness of her number, and as the individual Saints who make up a great chorus.  “No man could say the canticle, but those hundred forty-four thousand who were purchased from the earth.”  This is the victory song of those who persevered in the Faith.  The wicked cannot sing it, knowing neither the words nor the melody, and having no ability to sing joyfully, but only to lament.  These righteous ones were “purchased from the earth” by the Lord Jesus, at the cost of “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled” (1 Peter 1, 19).  

“These are they who were not defiled with women: for they are virgins.”  This is the text excised from the reading.  It does not pertain strictly to men because these are all the righteous.  The text should be understood thus: These are they who were not defiled by lust.  They are virgins in that they either lived celibate lives or in that they lived out their married lives in fidelity and with respect for their spouses.  The word “virgin” ought to be understood here in the sense of “undefiled”.  What defiles a person is not married love, but lust (cf. Matthew 15, 18-19).  And so we can see the whole variety of Saints in this choir: martyrs, confessors, virgins, clergy, missionaries, and married people.  “These follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes.”  They do not lead the Lamb to pasture but are led by the Lamb.  They follow him wherever he goes, faithfully  going in his footsteps, making his will their own.  They go together, assisting one another with prayers, encouragement, and good example.  “These were purchased from among men, the first-fruits to God and to the Lamb.”  That is, purchased from among all the members of the human race.  Now, the Lamb purchases us, but if we are unwilling to go with him, he allows us to depart from him.  The Saints are those who were purchased and who followed the Lamb wherever he took them.  They are called the “first-fruits”, not in terms of having been harvested first, but in terms of their quality.  All the Saints, then, are “first-fruits”.  There are no lesser “fruits” among them.  “And in their mouth there was found no lie: for they are without spot before the throne of God.”  This is part of the virginity of the Saints.  They are undefiled as to lust and as to lies and any kind of falsehood.  “Without spot” brings to mind the only sort of animal which could be offered to God in sacrifice: “He shall present his offering to the Lord: one male lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering and one ewe-lamb a year old without defect for a sin offering” (Numbers 6, 14).

The Lord Jesus gives us this day to repent of any impurity we have committed, to obtain forgiveness and grace in the sacraments, and to live “unspotted” lives for God.  We have this day to do this, for no further days are guaranteed to us.