The Fourth Sunday of Easter, May 11, 2025

Revelation 7, 9; 14–17

I, John, had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.  Then one of the elders said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  For this reason they stand before God’s throne and worship him day and night in his temple. The one who sits on the throne will shelter them. They will not hunger or thirst anymore, nor will the sun or any heat strike them. For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

The second reading for today’s Mass is taken from the second vision collected in the Book of Revelation.  This vision runs from chapter four through the first verse of chapter eight.  It shows the history of the Church from the time of the Birth of Christ until the final judgment.  Near the end of the vision, St. John sees “a great multitude” standing within the heavenly Temple, worshipping God and basking in his love.  He is told that, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress.”  That is, of temptation and even persecution but also of the distress that results when we closely examine our lives, discover the need for repentance, and then proceed to do penance and to amend our lives, casting out our vices and growing in virtue and faith.  We do this for the sake of the Lamb, who gave himself up to be slain so that we might be saved.  

The hard labor involved in this work is not to be underestimated.  As it is written in Proverbs 16, 32: “The patient man is greater than the valiant: and he that rules his spirit, than he that seizes cities.”  The work may cause us to lose friendships and all the things in this life we once esteemed as desirable.  We must turn ourselves inside-out, as it were, or, as it was explained to St. John, “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”  How can we do this seemingly impossible work?  Through the grace God gives us: “With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19, 26).

What is the state of the blessed, then? “They stand before God’s throne and worship him day and night in his temple.”  Psalm 134, 1-2: “Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the holy place, and bless the Lord!”  Before the face of God, the face of pure light and love, there is no awareness of time.  Those who loved and served God on earth experience the fullness of his beauty and love without distraction.  “The one who sits on the throne will shelter them.”  The Almighty Father shelters the just in his embrace.  Psalm 91, 4-5: “He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day.”  The saints in heaven dwell in complete security, forever free from the devil’s snare and from their own earthly weaknesses.  “They will not hunger or thirst anymore, nor will the sun or any heat strike them.”  Jesus, the Bread of Life, satisfies the hunger our souls have on earth for fulfillment and true happiness which can come only from him.  Nor does any feelings of regret or guilt afflict them, for all has been expiated, all has been perfected.

“The Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water.”  We see how God’s ways are not our ways in this image:  it is the Lamb who shepherds, the one who leads.  So many on earth try to control God, to make him into something he is not, who try to contort his laws in order to justify our pursuit of wicked things.  But once we clear our delusions out of our eyes — the muck of sin — we see that the only way to true and eternal happiness is to follow the Lamb, to let him change us through his grace.  “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”  The only tears allowed in heaven will be tears of joy as we behold our Redeemer.