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“The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple”
by Pierre Mignard, c. 1635 |
Readings for Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time [1]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
Readings and Commentary: [3]
Reading 1: Revelation 5:1-10
I, John, saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who sat on the throne.
It had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals.
Then I saw a mighty angel who proclaimed in a loud voice,
“Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”
But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth
was able to open the scroll or to examine it.
I shed many tears because no one was found worthy
to open the scroll or to examine it.
One of the elders said to me, “Do not weep.
The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed,
enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals.”
Then I saw standing in the midst of the throne
and the four living creatures and the elders
a Lamb that seemed to have been slain.
He had seven horns and seven eyes;
these are the seven spirits of God sent out into the whole world.
He came and received the scroll from the right hand
of the one who sat on the throne.
When he took it,
the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders
fell down before the Lamb.
Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense,
which are the prayers of the holy ones.
They sang a new hymn:
“Worthy are you to receive the scroll
and break open its seals,
for you were slain and with your Blood you purchased for God
those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation.
You made them a kingdom and priests for our God,
and they will reign on earth.”
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Commentary on Rv 5:1-10
The seer (John) now describes a papyrus scroll in God's right hand with seven seals, indicating the importance of the message. A mighty angel asks who is worthy to open the scroll, who can accomplish God's salvific plan. There is despair at first when no one in creation can do it. But the seer is comforted by an elder who tells him that Christ (“The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David”) has won the right to open it. Expecting to see a lion, John turns to see Christ then appearing as a Lamb, coming to receive the scroll from God, for which he is acclaimed as at a coronation.[4]
CCC: Rv 5:6 1137
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b
R. (Rev. 5:10) The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve our God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Sing to the LORD a new song
of praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel be glad in their maker,
let the children of Zion rejoice in their king.
R. The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve our God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let them praise his name in the festive dance,
let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.
For the LORD loves his people,
and he adorns the lowly with victory.
R. The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve our God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy upon their couches;
Let the high praises of God be in their throats.
This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia.
R. The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve our God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
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Commentary on Ps 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b
Psalm 149 is a communal song of praise. This passage rejoices in God’s kingship and invites the faithful to celebrate his saving works. We rejoice because God brings victory to the lowly and hope to the oppressed.
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Gospel: Luke 19:41-44
As Jesus drew near Jerusalem,
he saw the city and wept over it, saying,
“If this day you only knew what makes for peace–
but now it is hidden from your eyes.
For the days are coming upon you
when your enemies will raise a palisade against you;
they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides.
They will smash you to the ground and your children within you,
and they will not leave one stone upon another within you
because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
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Commentary on Lk 19:41-44
This lament for Jerusalem is found only in the Gospel of St. Luke. It is predictive of the destruction of that city in 70 A.D. by the Romans. “Jesus clothes his solemn words with the language and imagery of OT prophecy (Isaiah 29:1-3; Jeremiah 6:6; Ezekiel 4:1-3). Because Jerusalem has become a repeat offender, it will again suffer the devastation that befell the city in 586 B.C. with the Babylonian invasion.” [5] The clear meaning here is this event was a result of Jerusalem not accepting Christ the mediator of peace.
“Mystically: (St. Gregory the Great, Hom. In Evan. 39) Christ continues to weep for sinners who, like Jerusalem, run after evil and refuse to make peace with God. Their sins hide from their eyes the judgment that is coming; otherwise they would weep for themselves. When it arrives, demons will besiege the soul and the Lord will visit them with his dreadful punishment.” [6]
CCC: Lk 19:41-42 558
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Reflection:
We challenge ourselves today to find a way to be faithful to John 14:6: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (the idea that salvation is only available through belief in Christ), and at the same time understand that all people are offered adoption into God’s family (Ephesians 3:6): “the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”
John’s vision in Revelation (Apocalypse) clearly points to Christ’s primacy in heaven. He alone in God’s heavenly kingdom is worthy to open the scroll that is the Father’s saving plan. The only one who can bring about salvation is the “lamb who was slain.” That clearly points to the fact that only Christ can bring a person to eternal life.
We then look at St. Luke’s Gospel and are told that the Lord looked on Jerusalem and saw the unbelief of the people (“If this day you only knew what makes for peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes.”). He weeps for them because he sees their spiritual death – their complete destruction as a consequence of their failure to grasp the revelation that God has sent. Here too we seem to find that Christ alone holds salvation. He alone is the way, the truth, and the life.
What then of our brothers and sisters who have rejected him? What about all the good people in the world who have not chosen to follow Christ – the Hindus like Gandhi – the Buddhist monks who seek the golden path? What of them? Are they, because of their unbelief, consigned to hell?
There are those among our denominational brethren who would say yes. Some would go further and say, if anyone has not accepted Jesus as their “personal Savior,” worshiping in the way they prescribe, even others who believe Christ is the way, are doomed to eternal damnation. There are others who look more literally at Revelation and say that only 144,000 will be saved (Revelation 7:4). We of the Catholic faith look more broadly at Scripture and see there the merciful God who, like a loving parent, hopes that all his creation will come to the infinite halls of the heavenly kingdom.
We believe that the transition from the earthly life in our biological shell to the glorious body of the resurrection is not instantaneous in most cases. Rather, there is a process of cleansing that takes place. A process, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.”[7] We call this process Purgatory, and it is a great gift since it is the rare individual who passes through this life completely in perfect contrition.
But what about Gandhi and the monks? They reject the notion that Christ was the way. But they did not understand; they saw God through their own lens of faith. When they come to see our Triune God, about which their understanding was incomplete, they too have access to the process that completes their journey. We believe that only the un-contrite, those who have not sought forgiveness, will consign themselves to the place where there is “wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
Today we remember those, living and dead, who will find the final road to the heavenly kingdom to be too difficult. May the Lord’s final mercy bring them at last to his eternal home.
Pax
[1] The picture used today is “The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple” by Pierre Mignard, c. 1635.
[2] S.S. Commemoratio[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] NAB footnote on Rev 5:1-14.
[5] Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, © 2010, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA. pp.144-45.[6] Ibid.
[7] CCC 1030
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