Open yourself to Christ, our God who saves

 

Welcome to my blog. Peace be with you.

God speaks to us through his Word in the Sacred Scriptures. His Word gives us wisdom and wisdom gives us life. His Word alone answers the deep questions we all ask.

Thursday 19 November 2020

Open yourself to Christ, our God who saves.

 

First reading

Apocalypse 5:1-10 ·

The blood of the Lamb bought men for God

I, John, saw that in the right hand of the One sitting on the throne there was a scroll that had writing on back and front and was sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a powerful angel who called with a loud voice, ‘Is there anyone worthy to open the scroll and break the seals of it?’ But there was no one, in heaven or on the earth or under the earth, who was able to open the scroll and read it. I wept bitterly because there was nobody fit to open the scroll and read it, but one of the elders said to me, ‘There is no need to cry: the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed, and he will open the scroll and the seven seals of it.’

Then I saw, standing between the throne with its four animals and the circle of the elders, a Lamb that seemed to have been sacrificed; it had seven horns, and it had seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits God has sent out all over the world. The Lamb came forward to take the scroll from the right hand of the One sitting on the throne, and when he took it, the four animals prostrated themselves before him and with them the twenty-four elders; each one of them was holding a harp and had a golden bowl full of incense made of the prayers of the saints. They sang a new hymn:

‘You are worthy to take the scroll

and break the seals of it,

because you were sacrificed, and with your blood

you bought men for God

of every race, language, people and nation

and made them a line of kings and priests,

to serve our God and to rule the world.’

 

Prayerful reflection

In ancient times and today too, there were and are many learned philosophers, but no one has answered the basic question: what is the meaning and purpose of history? What is the meaning and purpose of my life? that question is symbolised by the scroll sealed with seven seals which no one in heaven or on earth could open. God hid his plan from every creature.

But the angels says, there is no need to bemoan human ignorance. There is one man who has unravelled the mystery. It is Jesus in his Death and Resurrection. He is symbolised by the lamb – slain but living, the Risen Lord bearing the wounds of his Passion and Death. The lamb has seven horns, symbols of his infinite power. The Lamb has seven eyes, symbols of his infinite wisdom. He knows everything and is master of the universe. He is the Son of God, equal in every way with the Father. Creatures must bow down in adoration before him. They proclaim the canticle of praise and worship.

 

Gospel

Luke 19:41-44

Jesus sheds tears over the coming fate of Jerusalem

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem and came in sight of the city he shed tears over it and said, ‘If you in your turn had only understood on this day the message of peace! But, alas, it is hidden from your eyes! Yes, a time is coming when your enemies will raise fortifications all round you, when they will encircle you and hem you in on every side; they will dash you and the children inside your walls to the ground; they will leave not one stone standing on another within you – and all because you did not recognise your opportunity when God offered it!’

 

Prayerful refection

God did not destroy Jerusalem. The Jews waged a four-year war of rebellion against the Roman super power of the day. It was a war of attrition. In the end the Romans decided enough was enough. They did what Luke describes in today’s Gospel. At the base of the Temple wall lie huge blocks of stone. The Roman soldiers, somehow, cast them down and they have lay there for two thousand years, a silent reminder to the destruction which took place, because the Jews did not recognise the day of the Lord’s visitation.

But not only the Jews, how many others have wasted their lives. They have not recognised that God loves them and calls them. They have not recognised that God came, in person as a human being, searching for them, that he is still longing for them.

In their lack of wisdom, they spend their time following their own wayward thoughts and desires, a war of sinful living against God. God will not destroy them. He weeps over them as they too go to eternal destruction. Their fate will be, like the Jewish fate, a result of their own folly. Satan is crueller than the Romans were.

May we learn to open our arms to the embrace of God and the eternal happiness he offers.