Monday of the
34th Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial
of Saint Andrew Dung-Lac and Companions
November 24, 2014 8:30am
Today’s first reading is from the
last Book of the Bible – the Book of Revelation.
This book is very poetic,
visionary, and sometimes difficult to understand.
Today’s passage gives us a vision
of the heavenly Jerusalem or, we would say, a vision of heaven.
There is symbolism here that is
enriching for us.
First, John envisions a Lamb
standing on Mount Zion.
Mount Zion is the heart of
Jerusalem, the high point where the temple is located.
In this passage, it stands for
the heavenly throne of God.
The Lamb stands for Jesus.
By his sacrifice of himself on
the cross, Jesus replaces the sacrificial lambs of the Old Testament.
He makes those sacrifices and
lambs no longer necessary.
So, Jesus is called the Lamb and,
of course, we express this image in our liturgy when we acclaim him “The Lamb
of God.”.
Then the passage speaks of
144,000 people around the Lamb’s throne.
This number is also symbolic.
In the Mideast culture of 2000
years ago, it is a perfect number – 12 times 12,000.
It means that the Lamb’s
sacrifice or Jesus’ death and resurrection is for all people.
It is intended to be inclusive of
all humanity.
Finally, the passage says that
the 144,000 have the Lamb’s name and the Father’s name written on their
forehead.
The idea here is that at baptism, we are signed on our
forehead with the sign of the cross of Jesus, the Lamb.
That sign unites us with Jesus.
It calls us to live a life as unblemished as the lamb and
through that, to make our way to our heavenly home.
So, a positive, upbeat, hopeful image from the Book of
Revelation today.
