Revelation 20:1-4, 11 - 21:2 / Luke 20:29-33
In London's Westminster Abbey, there's a tiny chapel called St. George's Chapel. It was built as a memorial to Londoners who lost their lives during the air raids of World War Il. Inside the chapel are four large books. These books contain the names of over 60,000 air-raid victims. One book lies open and on it shines a light illuminating the page of names. Each day the page is turned, revealing a new set of names. As you read them you have no way of knowing whether the person whose name you are reading was rich or poor, young or old, handsome or ugly, black, white, or brown. Nor does it matter. All that matters is what each person became in the course of living his or her life on earth.
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What are we becoming in the course of our life? "You become a Christian; you're not born one."
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The Book of Revelation gives us today a vision of hope: God will ultimately be victorious; the forces of evil will be chained for good, the just will reign with God, a new heaven and a new earth will come, God’s people (the new Jerusalem) will be pure. We must be aware that eternal life is already at work in the life of the baptized and people themselves help in giving birth to a new world. We must, as Jesus says, see these things happening now.
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Promises are not that easy to keep, even when the conditions are stable and under control. Promises are also not that easy to keep especially when there is turmoil and chaos. More so in a situation of war and devastation and nothing is predictable.
Jesus also left us a promise when He said in today's gospel: Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away. But when we are faced with the painful realities of life, the promise of Jesus may seem to lose its impact and significance. However, the challenge to believe in His promise remains as we keep fighting the good fight and running the race even when we cannot see the finish line.
The 1st reading also reminds us: God's sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty that shall never pass away, nor will His empire be destroyed. So, let us remember that it is God who is making a promise to us His people. What God has promised He will fulfill.
For our part, we just have to keep on believing and trusting in God always. Let us remember that though we may falter, God is always faithful.
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The faithful should keep hope in patience: God’s kingdom is near. There are not only tensions and conflicts inside God’s people and from outside: there are also signs of hope, and we should see these signs.
Let us pray: God of the ages and of eternity, you have entrusted to us, your people, your project about people and the world. Do not allow us to delay your plans by our own limitations. Make us aware that all we can do is be a leaven and a sign that the seed you have sown will grow. Keep us hoping in patience, that integrity, love, and justice will come in your own good time as a gift from you, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
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Saint Catherine of Alexandria
Feast Day November 25
She was about eighteen and her name was Catherine. She lived in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, the city that Antony the Great of Egypt had once visited and that was the home of Athanasius.
Catherine lived during the reign of the Roman emperor Maxentius and was famous throughout the city for her beauty. Despite this, she was the sort of person who liked to spend her time reading and studying. Indeed, she was just as famous for her intelligence as she was for her good looks.
Now it so happened that Emperor Maxentius made a visit to Alexandria, which was part of his empire. While he was there, he heard about Catherine’s beauty and intelligence. He commanded his servants to bring her to meet him. As soon as he saw her, he decided he wanted to marry her. Immediately. But there was a problem.
Maxentius already had a wife.
Maxentius (who continued to worship the ancient Roman gods) didn’t think this mattered at all. “Oh, don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll have two wives at the same time. I’m the emperor, I can do what I like.” Catherine was having none of this. She refused his proposal, saying that as a Christian she couldn’t possibly agree to such a relationship.
Maxentius then gathered together a great number of teachers and professors who also believed in the Roman gods. He told them to persuade Catherine that her Christian faith was nonsense. She listened to them for a while and then started answering their points convincingly and persuasively. The result was that, far from getting Catherine to change her mind, these wise men began to change their own minds.
The emperor was not only angry; he was alarmed. What would happen if Rome gave up its worship of the old gods? He didn’t want any of what he described as “this Christian nonsense.”
So he gave orders that Catherine should be put to death in a particularly horrible way. He had a large wheel made, with sharp blades set into the outside rim. Then Catherine was to be tied around this edge, and the blades were intended to cut her to pieces as the wheel was rolled along.
It didn’t go according to plan. When Catherine was bound to the wheel, it broke and the blades flew off in all directions, flashing in the light and wounding the soldiers who were supposed to be putting her to death. Some people say all this was caused by lightning striking the wheel. Whether that is true or not, Catherine’s executioners didn’t try making another wheel. They beheaded her at once.
It is said that a flight of angels then descended from heaven and carried her body to Mount Sinai, where, centuries before, God had given the Ten Commandments to Moses. Even today there is a monastery named Saint Catherine’s there.
People also remember the death of Saint Catherine with the firework that is named after her, which is supposed to spin around as her wheel did.
