November 28, 2012

Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

A prayer before Advent.

Lectionary: 505

Reading 1 from St. John's book of Revelations
Rv 15:1-4

I, John, saw in heaven another sign, great and awe-inspiring:
seven angels with the seven last plagues,
for through them God's fury is accomplished.

Angels-God's messengers
Seven-the number of perfection
Plagues-calamities inflicted upon the world in punishment for sins

Then I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire.

To me, the sea of glass mingled with fire is a vision of Purgatory.  Purgatory is the site of the Refiner's fire.

Malachi 3:1-3
King James Version (KJV)
3 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

On the sea of glass were standing those
who had won the victory over the beast
and its image and the number that signified its name.

If this sea of glass and fire is Purgatory, then these men are those who have been subjected to the test of their faith and have won the victory.  They have overcome every temptation and have been cleansed of every sin.

1 Peter 1:7
King James Version (KJV)
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

They were holding God's harps,
and they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God,
and the song of the Lamb:

Having crossed the sea of glass and fire, they are now singing the song of victory as did Moses' people when they crossed the Red Sea:

Exodus 14:29-31
King James Version (KJV)
29 But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.
31 And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.

Exodus 15:1-3
King James Version (KJV)
15 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
2 The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.
3 The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.

"Great and wonderful are your works,
Lord God almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
O king of the nations.
Who will not fear you, Lord,
or glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All the nations will come
and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed."

The Saints of God are celebrating His victory in song.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 7-8, 9

R. (Rev. 15: 3b) Great and wonderful are all your works, Lord, mighty God!

Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.

R. Great and wonderful are all your works, Lord, mighty God!

The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.

R. Great and wonderful are all your works, Lord, mighty God!

Let the sea and what fills it resound,
the world and those who dwell in it;
Let the rivers clap their hands,
the mountains shout with them for joy.

R. Great and wonderful are all your works, Lord, mighty God!

Before the LORD, for he comes,
for he comes to rule the earth;
He will rule the world with justice
and the peoples with equity.

R. Great and wonderful are all your works, Lord, mighty God!

God is Ruler of the world.  God is our Creator.  Look around you, there is nothing which God did not make.  And He made everything with a word.

John 1
King James Version (KJV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke
Lk 21:12-19

Jesus said to the crowd:
"They will seize and persecute you,
they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons,
and they will have you led before kings and governors
because of my name.

There will come a time, Jesus says, when those who believe in me will be persecuted.

1.  In the first place, this happened during the Apostolic period, after Jesus ascended into heaven:

Acts 9:1-2
King James Version (KJV)
1 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

2.  But in a veiled manner, this verse has a double meaning.  The second meaning is about the end times.  When believers will be persecuted by the Dragon and the Beast:

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.

It will lead to your giving testimony.
Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking
that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.

An example of this type of inspiration is the Testimony of Stephen, which you can read about in Act 6 and 7.

Acts 6:8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.9 Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.
10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.
11 Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
12 And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,
13 And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:
14 For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.
15 And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.

St. Stephen testified and became our first martyr.  His testimony ends with these words.  Acts 7:53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

You will even be handed over by parents,
brothers, relatives, and friends,
and they will put some of you to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.
By your perseverance you will secure your lives."

This, of course, is spiritually understood.  As we have witnessed, the seed of the Church is the blood of the martyrs.  And as St. John has shown in His book of Revelations which we are studying recently in the Mass, all those who died for Christ, will receive eternal life in heaven.

Revelation 7:14
King James Version (KJV)
14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Sincerely,

De Maria