Friday, November 27, 2020

Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

(Revelation 20:1-4.11-21.2; Luke 21:29-33)

A few months ago Christopher Nolan’s new film Tenet was released.  It is action sci-fi that challenges the mind as it awes the emotions.  The opening scene takes place in the future.  It may or may not really happen depending upon the hero’s ability to control the plot.  Casual viewers will likely find the movie bizarre.  But Christopher Nolan fans will grope assiduously for its meaning.  The Book of Revelation presents a similar challenge although it should never be casually dismissed. 

Revelation was written to shore up the hope of persecuted Christians.  Its narration of the future cannot be taken literally.  The thousand years which today’s passage references has long passed without the promised culmination of goodness.  This does not mean that the book is mistaken.  Rather the author only speculated when and what kind of events would the triumph of goodness be.  He is right in assuring that it will take place.

We can be sure that God’s love will ultimately conquer evil because of Christ’s resurrection from the dead.  We have seen other evidence as well like, for example, the Church surviving two thousand years despite many attempts to dismantle it and its own folly.  For now we want to redouble our efforts to live righteous lives.  We want to become partakers of the new reality the reading promises.