Listening to God in Revelation

Here is the last of a series of reflections on the Liturgy of the Hours written by retired Auxiliary Bishop Agustín Román as he marks the 50th anniversary of his priesthood. They already have appeared in La Voz Católica, our monthly Spanish–language newspaper.

BISHOP AGUSTÍN ROMÁN | AUXILIARY BISHOP EMERITUS OF MIAMI

Published: 08.15.08

The Bible, God’s revelation to mankind, has been given to us so that we might listen to the Lord. As my old seminary professor used to tell us, listening is not the same as hearing. To hear is to perceive sounds without stopping to think about them. To listen is to pay attention, to reflect on what is being said, in order to be able to respond to the one who is talking.

For half a century, since I received the Liturgy of the Hours, I have tried to listen to God in the Office of Readings. This part of the book is geared toward providing us, the people of God, with abundant spiritual nourishment served on the precious platter of the daily Liturgy of the Hours.

As teacher, the church organizes these readings according to the liturgical season: Isaiah prepares us and prophesizes the coming of the Messiah; Moses, in the Book of Exodus, invites us to walk toward Easter; Peter and John prepare us, during the Easter season, to receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

St. Augustine offers us a commentary on the Gospel of John titled “Two Lives,” which we read during the seven weeks of Easter. Here, the great bishop presents us with two witnesses to the empty tomb: Peter as the messenger for today and John as the messenger of the future.

The first week of Easter opens with Peter’s first letter, directed to those communities living in the diaspora, an exile full of suffering due to the persecutions of the Roman Empire and of the pagan religions associated with that empire. Peter exhorts the communities to remain steadfast and courageous as they struggle to defend their faith. But he also invites them to live joyfully while enduring the trials that demonstrate their love for the Lord.

During the next six weeks, John is the witness. He speaks through the Book of Revelation the first four weeks and through three of his letters the remaining two weeks.

Revelation arouses great curiosity, but it is a difficult book. It invites us to follow Christ, to struggle in the “dark night of the soul” to remain faithful to him until we reach our destination in heaven.

We are part of a family, the church, that follows the Lord and even though the face of persecution changes, the persecutor remains the same: Satan. The Book of Revelation presents us with truths robed as symbols so that each generation can undress them when needed.

Christ is presented as the sacrificial lamb and the church as a mother who gives birth to a son – representative of the Christian people – and also as a beautiful city inhabited by a great multitude, a city that will be unassailable and will be called the Heavenly Jerusalem.

Christ, who is Alpha and Omega along with his church, is attacked by the enemy, who is the devil represented by a dragon. He is served by two beasts who represent the Roman Empire and the pagan religion that supports it.

Humanity, wounded by sin, often veers from the righteous path, but the merciful God tries to purify them with punishments that invite them to conversion.

The angels appear as God’s messengers, sometimes sounding trumpets that announce what is coming, other times carrying cups that pour out punishments on disobedient humanity.

The Book of Revelation, for the people of God who read it, is the living word of God coming down from heaven, as it does in the Bible, and calling us to wake up and awaken those around us to discover that the history of salvation is not ended because the good Lord continues to desire the salvation of humanity.

The devil battles against Christ and Christians today as he did 2,000 years ago. The beasts that symbolize power and superstition cooperate always with him, although in different ways. The time of imperial persecution has passed, but the subtle fog of ideologies continues to impede us from discovering the fullness of the work of God.

The hatred of the Evil One has not diminished, but in the last two weeks of Easter, in his three letters, John hands us the key to triumph in this battle. It is the power of the God of Love, who instills his love in us so that, by loving him as a father, we can love each other as brothers and sisters. The letter exhorts us to pray because “if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”

The Book of Revelation concludes by instilling in us hope for the struggle: Christ, the Lamb of God and Son of Man, will triumph over the beasts that cooperate with the dragon. A new world will appear at the end of times, with a new heavens and a new earth.

The Bible, God’s letter to humanity, concludes with the Apocalypse, an embrace between God and man. That is why each year, as I read this book during the Easter season, I ask the Lord to listen to me so that I might always listen to him. I know that communication between two people is never stronger than when they mutually talk and listen to each other.

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