Revelation 14:14-19 / Luke 21:5-13
The Son of Man appeared: He wore a crown and carried a sickle
The title "Son of Man" is the one Jesus applied most often to himself in the Gospels. He is obviously the figure seated on the cloud, wearing a crown and carrying a sickle. The cloud symbolizes Jesus' Second Coming at the end of the world. The crown symbolizes his coming as king. The sickle symbolizes his coming as the harvester of the just; he is coming to take them to heaven. But there's a second set of images as well. Two angels appear to collect grapes and cast them into the winepress of God's wrath. They are executing punishment upon the unjust.
Judgment is presented in the reading from Revelation
as the reaping of the harvest.
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Does the fact that we will be held accountable for all
our actions, at the end of the world, have any effect on us? "I shall tell
you a secret, my friend. Do not wait for the last judgment; it takes place
every day."
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Prophesies about the end-times or about the end of the
world may sound alarming. Yet contrary to expectations, it may not have
produced the desired results.
There is no widespread panic or alarm, nor great
numbers seeking forgiveness and mercy or even nation-wide or international
movements of reformations.
In fact, the wrong-doings and acts of evil seem to
continue to rise and fill the world from end to end, with no sign of repentance
in sight even.
So, end-time prophesies have just become another topic
of conversation, and we may also have become numbed to its message.
The 1st reading gives the image of two harvests. In
the first harvest, a son of man with a gold crown on his head and a sharp
sickle in his hand reaped a harvest. This is to symbolize the gathering of the
righteous, and they are gathered by the love and mercy of God and vindicated
for their faithfulness.
The second harvest seems to be at vintage time, when
all the grapes are ripe, and this harvest is reaped by the angel with a sharp
sickle and put into the winepress of God's anger.
This to symbolize the judgement of the wicked and
evil-doers and their subsequent punishment. What must be stated is that God is
love and mercy and forgiveness, and He waits patiently for sinners to repent
and be reconciled with Him.
We may take a while to realize the message of
repentance and forgiveness but let us not take forever. Because forever in the
wrong place is a very very long time.
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Jesus speaks of times of trials, directly of the fall
of Jerusalem, which is a symbol of the end time. We may not forget that for us
here and now the time of judgment is now: we prepare it now, we undergo, or
better, create it now, by the way we live individually and as a community. “Do
not be misled,” says Christ. In other words, his message is meant to shake us,
to wake us up to live the gospel now.
We have our apocalyptic today, who are convinced that
the end is approaching. Many of us are not that sure. But we are called to live
our lives as if each day were the last. How often Paul issues the alert and
tells us to wake from sleep. If we live a faith-filled life, we have no reason
to fear. We affirm God’s future in our liturgy: “Christ will come again.” We
say it, not in fear, but with trust and confidence.
Let us Pray:
Lord our God, our faith is not a quiet possession of the truth and of rights that may give us security. Make us realize that it is tested and that you call us to be credible witnesses in our time and our situation of the passion and resurrection of your Son. Give us your Holy Spirit to guide us and to keep our hope alive that Jesus is our Lord and you our God forever.
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Saint Cecelia
For centuries St. Cecelia has remained one of the church’s
most beloved saints. Parents give their daughters her lovely name, which means
“lily of heaven.” However, all we know about Cecelia comes from a fifth-century
legend that has no historical evidence to support it. Except those two young
men featured in the story, Valerian and Tiburtius, were known to have been
martyred in the third century and buried in the catacombs. However, no catacomb
grave or contemporary writer validates the fascinating tale of St. Cecelia.
However, the story still charms and inspires us. Cecelia, a
patrician maiden, dedicated her virginity to Christ, but her father betrothed
her to Valerian, a young pagan. Forced into marriage, Cecelia determined to
keep her commitment. According to the legend:
As the wedding day approached, she fasted for two or three
days. On her nuptial day she wore a hair shirt next to her flesh, concealed by
her gown of cloth of gold. She sang in her heart to God alone, saying, “O Lord,
let my heart and my body be undefiled.” That night, when with her spouse she
sought the secret silences of the bridal chamber, she spoke to him as follows:
“O sweetest and most loving youth, there is a secret that I may confess to you,
if only you will swear to guard it faithfully.” Then Valerian swore that no
necessity would make him betray it in any way. Then she said: “I have for my
lover an angel of God, who guards my body with exceeding zeal! If he sees you
but lightly touch me for sordid love, he will smite you, and you will lose the fair
flower of your youth. But if he knows that you love me with a pure love, he
will love you as he loves me, and will show you his glory!”
Then Valerian, guided by the will of God, said: “If you will
have me believe you, show me the angel! If I find that he is really an angel, I
shall do as you ask me!”
We might wonder if bad breath from fasting and the stink of
the hair shirt might not have been enough to protect Cecelia from Valerian’s
touch. However, the youth followed Cecelia’s directions and sought baptism from
Pope Urban I. Upon his return Valerian saw Cecelia’s angel, who crowned both of
them with floral wreaths. Then Valerian’s brother, Tiburtius, was also
converted. The two new Christians were soon beheaded for burying the bodies of
those who had been martyred.
Cecelia herself was condemned for refusing to worship the
gods. An attempt to suffocate her in her own bathroom failed. So a soldier was
ordered to behead her, but he bungled the job. Cecelia lay dying for three
days, during which she bequeathed her property to the church.
The Cecelia legend may be purely fictitious, but this fiction conveys truths that stimulate our faith. St. Cecelia testifies to the supernatural realities that penetrate our lives and invite us to live for God alone no matter what it costs.
