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FEEDING ON THE WORD OF GOD

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  SAINT CECILIA, VIRGIN, MARTYR Apo 10:8-11; Ps 119:14,24,72,103,111,131; Lk 19:45-48 The importance of Eating the Word of God Away from the liturgical setting of the previous visions, John’s vision turns to our daily activities as Christians. These activities outside temples or churches of God also draw from the liturgical activities, during which we hear the word of God and consecrate ourselves to do his holy and immutable will. One of the roles we play as members of Jesus Christ is to help further or carry out his mission of proclamation of the will of the Father to everyone. The facility with which we accomplish this duty depends on how well we have received and chewed the word of God. As Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, that faith comes from hearing the word of God. Paying attention to the word of God read during our liturgical activities is of utmost importance, for the word of God feeds us spiritually and enables us to proclaim the will of God in words and deeds. Fo
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THE SACRIFICE OF THE LAMB OF GOD

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PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Apo 5:1-10; Ps 149:1-6,9; Lk 19:41-44 The Sacrifice of the Lamb The vision of the heavenly and mystical liturgy continues in today’s reading as John receives new aspects of the holy and immutable will of the Father. From yesterday’s reading, we received enlightenment on the sacredness and holiness of the One who sits on the everlasting throne and how the lightning, peals of thunder, and the accompanying voice give the holy will of God. The whole creation adores and worships the immutable will of the Father, enforced by the seven Spirits of God. The Eternal Word reveals the will of the Father, symbolically given in the strange four animals John described. He still enters the vision with the unique symbol of a sacrificed Lamb. The appearance of the Lamb enriches the liturgical interpretation of the whole vision, for the heavenly liturgy is incomplete without the Lamb, who is the High Priest and the Victim at our liturgical sacrifice. The symb
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CELEBRATING HEAVENLY LITURGY ON EARTH

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WEDNESDAY, THIRTY THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Apo 4:1-11; Ps 150; Lk 19:11-28 The Man of Noble Birth and his Kingdom John gives us his vision of heaven in today’s reading. From his description of the eternal throne of God, it is tough to decipher the correct meaning of all that he presents to us, for the language is all in symbols. The images used must not be understood in a literal sense, for what he describes for us is the source and hub of eternal and spiritual realities. We attempt to decode some of the symbols in the following. A door opening in heaven implies spiritual access to John to understand things beyond human capacity. Recall that St. Paul once had similar access to heavenly realities, as he revealed in 2 Corinthians, where he saw and heard things impossible to capture in any human language, which remains secret even after God has revealed them. In the same understanding, John goes up according to the command of the voice he heard, not by transversing space and time
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LIVING AND DINNING WITH THE LORD

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TUESDAY, THIRTY THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Apo 3:1-6,14-22; Ps 15:2-5; Lk 19:1-10 Living and dinning with the Lord In the message given to the church in Sardis that we read today, the Lord starts again with his perfection in holiness and the knowledge of the truth. His abiding presence among us through the Holy Spirit he sends into the Church and within us gives him a first-hand witness about our spiritual and material constitutions. His words should make us afraid of our shortcomings: “Here is the message of the one who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know all about you: how you are reputed to be alive and yet are dead.” Through the Holy Spirit, who searches our deepest part and constitution, the Lord knows when we have abandoned the interior disposition in pursuit of external accolade; he knows all we have done for peoples’ praise and not for the love of God, our Saviour. The turning to creatures was the cause of the spiritual death of many of the Christi
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WINNING THE BATTLE OF LIFE

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  MONDAY, THIRTY THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Apo 1:1-4,2:1-5; Ps 1:1-4,6; Lk 18:35-43 Winning the Victory in the Battle of Life St. John the Evangelist’s vision recorded in the Book of Revelation or Apocalypse is of things that are yet to happen. He said this in the introduction. “This is the revelation given by God to Jesus Christ so that he could tell his servants about the things which are now to take place very soon.” As an apocalyptic vision, the things seen and heard are about future events but not of a specific time, for they are of the general time frame. The particular time frame is understood and explained in the general time frame. Thus, the visions are true for every specific time in the future. The revelations are from God the Father, for he is the origin of all things. His divine will governs all events: past, present, and future. The Father gave them to Jesus Christ, the God-Man, who redeemed the world by his assumption of human nature, life, death, and resurrectio
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THE PERFECT AND SANCTIFYING SACRIFICES

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SUNDAY, THIRTY THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Dan 12:1-3; Ps 16:5,8-11; Heb 10:11-14,18; Mk 13:24-32 The Sanctification of the Perfect The year of the Church is gradually drawing to a close, and the readings are increasingly about eschatological events. The first thing we note about the apocalyptic books of the Scriptures is that the events they describe are not historical but meta-historical or ahistorical events. By this, we mean that though we can understand the historical events within the interpretative framework they offer, the prophecies are for all times. The first reading from the Book of Daniel discusses a time of great distress that will come upon the world. There have been many times of distress and various forms of distress that have befallen the world. Each event can be understood within the framework of the apocalyptic prophecies. “At that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who mounts guard over your people. There would be a time of great distress, unparalle
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THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF CHRISTIAN FAMILIES TO MISSION

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SATURDAY, THIRTY SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME 3 Jn 5-8; Ps 112:1-6; Lk 18:1-8 The Family as a Cradle of Prayer Life We come to the end of our reflection on the Christian family as a basic unit of the Church. The readings bring two essential roles of the Christian family to our minds. The first is the openness of the Christian family to visitors. The second is the material and spiritual contributions of Christian families to evangelisation. The two are well understood as an aspect of the mission of the Church to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If the Church has a divine mission to the world, all Christian families share in this mission of the Church. This universal mission also belongs to every Christian. The meaning of the universal mission to preach the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ opens every part of the Church to the world. One cannot close his arms or door to the same person he is to evangelise with the Gospel. Hence, Christian families, by constitution and mission, mus
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