Friday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
(Revelation 10:8-11; Luke 19:45-48)
The reading from the Book of Revelation pictures John, the
seer, swallowing a scroll from an angel.
The scroll containing prophecy tastes like honey in the seer’s mouth
because it contains news of Christ’s ultimate victory over sin. However, it upsets his stomach because it
also tells of the suffering the people of God will have to endure. The reading concludes with someone telling
John to prophecy about peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. John will relate this prophecy as a battle
narrative showing the victory of the Lambs’ forces over evil.
Revelation comes from the Greek word apokalipsis
which literally means folding back the veil.
It is the story of the future which only God knows although He can share
it with others. We should hear in the
coming days of evil being annihilated so that the children of God may live in the
glory of God.
Like the scroll that the seer swallows, our experience in
life as Christians is bittersweet. We
know of Christ’s love for us best shown on the cross and in its extension in
the Eucharist. We also know that we must
endure hardship to be true to him. But
victory is assured because Christ is more powerful than any of evil.
