November 26, 2012

Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 503

Reading 1 from St. John's book of Revelations
Rv 14:1-3, 4b-5

We continue reading the vision of St. John.

I, John, looked and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion,
and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand
who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.

This sounds very much like another verse to me:

Revelation 12:17
King James Version (KJV)
17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

I heard a sound from heaven
like the sound of rushing water or a loud peal of thunder.
The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps.

That is an intriguing sound.  It sounded like the roar of rushing water.  Have you ever been to Niagara Falls?  The sound is deafening.  At the same time, it sounded like a peal of thunder.  I know you've heard thunder?  And then, it also sounded like the sweet wound of harps?!!!

What a contrast!

They were singing what seemed to be a new hymn before the throne,
before the four living creatures and the elders.

The four living crreatures and the elders were not singing this song.

No one could learn this hymn except the hundred and forty-four thousandwho had been ransomed from the earth.

Only the 144,000 could sing this song.  I'm thinking this song was Alleluia and Glory to God in the highest.  Because that is the only song that fits the description.

I think I've mentioned before that the 144,000 is a mystical number of perfection.  It is 12x12000.  The number 12 is repeated 12000 times.  Therefore, the number 144,000 does not represent the finite figure of 144,000 but a much larger number which can't be counted.

These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.
They have been ransomed as the first fruits
of the human race for God and the Lamb.
On their lips no deceit has been found; they are unblemished.

They are unblemished, in my opinion, means they are virgins.  These are the Priests and Nuns who have given up husband, wife, father, mother, and children in order to be united to God.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

R. (see 6) Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

The LORD's are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.

R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.

R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.

R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

Those who seek righteousness are they who seek the Lord in faith:

Isaiah 58:2
Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke
Lk 21:1-4

When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people
putting their offerings into the treasury
and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.
He said, "I tell you truly,
this poor widow put in more than all the rest;
for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood."

This is a very important teaching about indulgences.  Note that the widow stored her treasure in heaven and that God multiplied its worth because of her faith.  These are the merits of the Saints which the Church has the authority to reapportion according to the prayers of her disciples.

Sincerely,

De Maria