Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

“All is Vanity”
by C. Allen Gilbert, c. 1900’s

 
Readings for Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading 1: Revelation 20:1-4, 11—21:2
 
I, John, saw an angel come down from heaven,
holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a heavy chain.
He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent,
which is the Devil or Satan,
and tied it up for a thousand years and threw it into the abyss,
which he locked over it and sealed,
so that it could no longer lead the nations astray
until the thousand years are completed.
After this, it is to be released for a short time.
 
Then I saw thrones; those who sat on them were entrusted with judgment.
I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God,
and who had not worshiped the beast or its image
nor had accepted its mark on their foreheads or hands.
They came to life and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
 
Next I saw a large white throne and the one who was sitting on it.
The earth and the sky fled from his presence
and there was no place for them.
I saw the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne,
and scrolls were opened.
Then another scroll was opened, the book of life.
The dead were judged according to their deeds,
by what was written in the scrolls.
The sea gave up its dead;
then Death and Hades gave up their dead.
All the dead were judged according to their deeds.
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the pool of fire.
(This pool of fire is the second death.)
Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life
was thrown into the pool of fire.
 
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
The former heaven and the former earth had passed away,
and the sea was no more.
I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
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Commentary on Rv 20:1-4, 11—21:2
 
In this selection from John’s Book of Revelation we are given the vision of Christ defeating sin and death (“holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a heavy chain. He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, which is the Devil or Satan, and tied it up for a thousand years and threw it into the abyss”). The thousand years specified is not to be taken literally. Like other numerical references in apocalyptic literature different numbers have different significance (i.e., 7 the perfect number or fullness, 6 the least perfect number, hence 666 the mark of the beast, and 40 the number of years for a generation), this one simply represents a long period of time between Christ’s first victory and his second coming, the Parousia.
 
We also are given the image of the final judgment, when the dead rise from their graves (I saw the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne) with a list of all they had done, the scrolls. They were judged according to their actions and then either passed to the new Jerusalem or cast into the pool of fire.
 
"The author then turns his attention to the resurrection, when all men will be judged according to their works.  He describes this by using the metaphor of two books.  One of these records the actions of men (as in Daniel 7:10 and other passages of the Old Testament, cf., e.g., Isaiah 65:6; Jeremiah 22:30).  The second book contains the names of those predestined to eternal life (an idea inspired by Daniel 12:1; cf. also, e.g., Exodus 32:32).  This is a way of showing that man cannot attain salvation by his own efforts alone: it is God who saves him: however, he needs to act in such a way that he responds to the destiny God has marked out for him."[4]
 
Finally comes the new age, and God ruling over it for eternity symbolized by the wedding.
 
CCC: Rv 20:12 677; Rv 21:1-22:5 117; Rv 21:1-2 756; Rv 21:1 1043; Rv 21:2-4 677; Rv 21:2 757, 1045, 2016
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 84:3, 4, 5-6a and 8a
 
R. (Rev. 21:3b) Here God lives among his people.
 
My soul yearns and pines
for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God.
R. Here God lives among his people.
 
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest
in which she puts her young–
Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my king and my God!
R. Here God lives among his people.
 
Blessed they who dwell in your house!
continually they praise you.
Blessed the men whose strength you are!
They go from strength to strength.
R. Here God lives among his people.
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Commentary on Ps 84:3, 4, 5-6a and 8a
 
Psalm 84 is a hymn of praise for those who depend on God (Blessed they who dwell in your house). The house of the Lord invites all who are faithful, from the largest to the smallest.  Those who find a home in God's temple are blessed; they find strength flowing from the Lord, sustaining them.
 
CCC: Ps 84:3 1770
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Gospel: Luke 21:29-33
 
Jesus told his disciples a parable.
“Consider the fig tree and all the other trees.
When their buds burst open,
you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near;
in the same way, when you see these things happening,
know that the Kingdom of God is near.
Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away
until all these things have taken place.
Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away.”
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Commentary on Lk 21:29-33
 
As part of his discourse on the destruction of Jerusalem, St. Luke’s Gospel gives us the parable of the fig tree (see also Mark 13:28-32 and Matthew 24:32-35). In Palestine, nothing looks as dead in the winter as a fig tree. However, in the spring fig trees bloom to new life (see also Joel 2:22). This imagery is seen at two levels. First, the Lord himself must undergo his passion before taking his place at the right hand of the Father. Second, more prophetically, the Christian community must also undergo trials before coming to its own springtime of rebirth, alluding to the persecutions to come.
 
"The parabolic teaching of vv 29–31 reinforces the teaching in v 28 about finding signs of the nearness of deliverance in the unfolding sequence of disasters. v 32 sets a limiting time frame for the whole of the anticipated future. And v 33 points to the solid and abiding nature of the words of Jesus amidst all this sea of change." [5]
 
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Reflection:
 
The line we walk in tightening circles is drawing back upon itself as we mark this second to the last day in the liturgical year.  This Sunday marks the beginning of the Advent season, and we must prepare to shift gears, as they say.  Today we continue our thoughts about the end of all things and hope desperately that our names are inscribed in the book of life. We have faith that we will eventually find the eternal home promised by our Lord.
 
Jesus’ parable in the Gospel reminds us that the end will come sooner than we think, and that we dare not procrastinate.  The new Jerusalem is waiting for us and the longer we delay in our own preparations the longer the journey will be to get to that final destination.
 
The analogy of approaching the mirror has been used before, but it is apt at this time as we come to the end of another year.  Looking in a mirror from a great distance, we see ourselves, our spiritual selves, looking very presentable.  Especially if we are standing next to our brothers and sisters, we may even look positively sparkling.  As we draw closer to the mirror, representing our spiritual introspection over the past year, we begin to see things that we had not noticed before.  We see little flaws that were not apparent from the previous distance but become glaringly apparent as we stand closer.
 
Each cycle of spiritual effort brings us closer to that mirror, and each year we find elements of our faith lives that need to be repaired, replaced, or completely overhauled.  Just as the fastidious dresser looks at each seam, at each article of clothing, its color, its fit, the way it lies, so we look at each element of our spiritual lives.  What seemed fine just a short year ago may not do at all with our new heightened sense of spiritual awareness.
 
For now, we take our steps toward a new Jerusalem where there is no more suffering or pain, where all our spiritual blessings will be heaped upon us, and we will know what it is like to be in the presence of pure love; for that is what God is. We have just one more day beyond this one to contemplate that wondrous journey before we will look once more at the mirror to see if we have prepared ourselves for the advent of the king, who is Christ.
 
Pax

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[1] The picture used today is “All is Vanity” by C. Allen Gilbert, c. 1900’s.
[2] S.S. Commemoratio
[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 re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] The Navarre Bible: “Revelation and Hebrews and Catholic Letters,” Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, p. 116.
[5] John Nolland, Luke 18:35–24:53, vol. 35C, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1993), 1010.