Thursday 12 December 2024

Today is Thursday the 12th of December, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in the 2nd week of Advent. The nuns of Mary, Queen of Apostles, sing Rorate Caeli: ‘Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down the Just One’. Today’s reading is from the Book of the Apocalypse. Apocalypse 11:19, 12:1-6,10 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pangs, in the agony of giving birth. Then another portent appeared in heaven: a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne; and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming, ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. Today’s very dramatic and powerful reading is also mysterious, a narrative that we may not fully comprehend. Imagining these images might be like watching an intense action film which tells the story of the end times. In Advent, not only do we look forward to celebrating the birth of our Saviour, but we also anticipate the time when He will return in glory, the time when he will reign forever. Is this something you can look forward to with excitement? Or perhaps you feel frightened, or maybe it’s a mixture of both? There must have been many moments in history when people have wondered if they are living in the end days. Take a moment to recall with God any current events that concern you. Pray now, for one area in the world where you see such suffering, that you wonder if people are longing for the return of the Lord. As you listen to the reading again, notice what strikes you most. ‘Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming, “Now have come the salvation and the power  and the kingdom of our God  and the authority of his Messiah…”’ Imagine what it might be like to live fully in the Kingdom of God, under the authority of the Messiah. Now, as you think about the world as it is right now, pray with the words, ‘Come Lord Jesus, Come.’ Perhaps, making these words, your prayer for today. O Wisdom Lord and Ruler Root of Jesse Key of David Rising Sun King of the Nations Emmanuel Come, Lord Jesus.