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| “St. Cecilia and an Angel” by Orazio Gentileschi, 1618-21 |
In the Dioceses of the United States: Mass for Thanksgiving Day
Reading 1: Revelation 5:1-10
I, John, saw a scroll in the
right hand of the one who sat on the throne.
It had writing on both sides
and was sealed with seven seals.
Then I saw a mighty angel who
proclaimed in a loud voice,
“Who is worthy to open the
scroll and break its seals?”
But no one in heaven or on
earth or under the earth
was able to open the scroll
or to examine it.
I shed many tears because no
one was found worthy
to open the scroll or to
examine it.
One of the elders said to me,
“Do not weep.
The lion of the tribe of Judah
enabling him to open the
scroll with its seven seals.”
Then I saw standing in the
midst of the throne
and the four living creatures
and the elders
a Lamb that seemed to have
been slain.
He had seven horns and seven
eyes;
these are the seven spirits
of God sent out into the whole world.
He came and received the
scroll from the right hand
of the one who sat on the
throne.
When he took it,
the four living creatures and
the twenty-four elders
fell down before the Lamb.
Each of the elders held a
harp and gold bowls filled with incense,
which are the prayers of the
holy ones.
They sang a new hymn:
“Worthy are you to receive
the scroll
and break open its seals,
for you were slain and with
your Blood you purchased for God
those from every tribe and
tongue, people and nation.
You made them a kingdom and
priests for our God,
and they will reign on
earth.”
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Commentary on Rv 5:1-10
The seer (John)
now describes a papyrus scroll in God's right hand with seven seals, indicating
the importance of the message. A mighty angel asks who is worthy to open the
scroll: who can accomplish God's salvific plan. There is despair at first when
no one in creation can do it. But the seer is comforted by an elder who tells
him that Christ (“The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David”)
has won the right to open it. Expecting to see a lion, John turns to see Christ
then appearing as a Lamb, coming to receive the scroll from God, for which he
is acclaimed as at a coronation.[4]
CCC: Rv 5:6 1137
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 149:1b-2,
3-4, 5-6a and 9b
R. (Rev. 5:10) The Lamb has made us a kingdom of
priests to serve our God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Sing to the LORD a new song
of praise in the assembly of
the faithful.
Let Israel
let the children of Zion
R. The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve
our God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let them praise his name in
the festive dance,
let them sing praise to him
with timbrel and harp.
For the LORD loves his
people,
and he adorns the lowly with
victory.
R. The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve
our God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let the faithful exult in
glory;
let them sing for joy upon
their couches;
Let the high praises of God
be in their throats.
This is the glory of all his
faithful. Alleluia.
R. The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve
our God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
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Commentary on Ps 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b
Psalm 149 is a
communal song of praise. This passage rejoices in God’s kingship, and invites
the faithful to celebrate his saving works. We rejoice because God brings
victory to the lowly and hope to the oppressed.
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Gospel: Luke 19:41-44
As Jesus drew near Jerusalem
he saw the city and wept over
it, saying,
“If this day you only knew
what makes for peace–
but now it is hidden from
your eyes.
For the days are coming upon
you
when your enemies will raise
a palisade against you;
they will encircle you and
hem you in on all sides.
They will smash you to the
ground and your children within you,
and they will not leave one
stone upon another within you
because you did not recognize
the time of your visitation.”
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Commentary on Lk 19:41-44
This lament for Jerusalem is found
only in the Gospel of St. Luke. It is predictive of the destruction of that
city in 70 A.D. by the Romans. “Jesus clothes his solemn words with the
language and imagery of OT prophecy (Isaiah 29:1-3; Jeremiah 6:6; Ezekiel 4:1-3). Because
Jerusalem has become a repeat offender, it will again suffer the devastation
that befell the city in 586 B.C. with the Babylonian invasion.”[5]
The clear meaning here is this event was a result of Jerusalem not accepting
Christ the mediator of peace.
CCC: Lk 19:41-42 558
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Homily:
We
challenge ourselves today to find a way to be faithful to John 14:6: “I
am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me” (the idea that salvation is only available through belief in
Christ), and at the same time understand that all people are offered adoption
into God’s family (Ephesians 3:6):
“the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the
same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”
John’s vision in Revelation
(Apocalypse) clearly points to Christ’s primacy in heaven. He alone in God’s heavenly kingdom is worthy
to open the scroll that is the Father’s saving plan. The only one who can bring about salvation is
the “lamb who was slain.” That clearly points to the fact that only
Christ can bring a person to eternal life.
We then look at St. Luke’s
Gospel and are told that the Lord looked on Jerusalem and saw the unbelief of
the people (“If this day you only knew what makes for
peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes.”). He weeps for them because he
sees their spiritual death – their complete destruction as a consequence of
their failure to grasp the revelation that God has sent. Here too we seem to find that Christ alone
holds salvation. He alone is the way,
the truth, and the life.
What then of our brothers and
sisters who have rejected him? What
about all of the good people in the world who have not chosen to follow Christ
– the Hindus like Gandhi – the Buddhist monks who seek the golden path? What of them? Are they, because of their unbelief,
consigned to hell?
There are those among our
denominational brethren who would say yes.
Some would go further and say, if anyone has not accepted Jesus as their
“personal Savior,” worshiping in the way they prescribe, even others who
believe Christ is the way, are doomed to eternal damnation. There are others who look more literally at
Revelation and say that only 144,000 will be saved (Revelation 7:4). We of the Catholic faith look more broadly at
scripture and see there the merciful God who, like a loving parent, hopes that
all his creation will come to the infinite halls of the heavenly kingdom.
We believe that the
transition from the earthly life in our biological shell to the glorious body
of the resurrection is not instantaneous in most cases. Rather, there is a process of cleansing that
takes place. A process, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “All who die in God's grace and friendship,
but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation;
but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness
necessary to enter the joy of heaven.”[7]
We call this process Purgatory, and it is a great gift since it is the rare
individual who passes through this life completely in perfect contrition.
But what about Gandhi and the
monks? They reject the notion that
Christ was the way. But they did not
understand; they saw God through their own lens of faith. When they come to see our Triune God, about
which their understanding was incomplete, they too have access to the process
that completes their journey. We believe
that only the un-contrite, those who have not sought forgiveness, will consign
themselves to the place where there is “wailing
and gnashing of teeth.”
Today we remember those,
living and dead, who will find the final road to the heavenly kingdom to be too
difficult. May the Lord’s final mercy
bring them at last to his eternal home.
Pax
[1]
The picture used today is “St. Cecilia and an Angel” by Orazio Gentileschi,
1618-21.
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible,
with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the
International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is
not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4]
See NAB footnote on Rev 5:1-14.
[5]
Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, © 2010, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA.
pp.144-145.
[6]
Ibid.
[7]
CCC 1030
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