Nov. Trinity
Revelation 14, 1-20
And I looked, and there
was the picture of the Lamb, standing atop Mt. Zion and with Him one hundred
forty-four thousand having his name and his Father’s name written on their
foreheads.
And I listened and heard a voice from the heavens,
a voice like a mighty rush of waters, and like a mighty thunderclap—the voice I
heard was like the voices of harpists playing on their harps.
And they all sing a new
song, there in front of the throne and in front of the four creatures and the
elders, and no one could learn the song but the one hundred forty-four thousand
ransomed from the earth. These are the ones who did not defile themselves by
the straying, through which the spiritual in man is betrayed; they have
remained virginal [pure] in their inmost being and follow the Lamb wherever he
goes. They were ransomed as the seed of a new humanity which belongs to the
Father God and the Lamb. Deceit and lies are not found in their mouths; pure
and unblemished are they in their innermost being.
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| Bamberg Apocalypse |
And I looked and saw another angel flying in
mid-heaven, bringing the good news which is good news forever to those living
on earth—to every race and nation and every tongue and folk. And the angel
cried out with a great voice, saying:
“Stand in awe of God and turn to honor him. For we
have come to the hour of his divine decision. Raise yourself in prayer to him
who in truth created the heavens and the earth and the sea and all the springs
of water.”
And a second angel followed, who said, “Fallen,
fallen is the great city of Babylon, who made all nations drink of the wine of
her sacrilege, in order to draw the holy into misuse.”
And a third angel followed them, who cried out with
a powerful voice: “Whoever adores the beast and its likeness and accepts its
stamp on forehead or hand, he will drink of the wine of God’s anger, thick and
strong and undiluted, from the cup of his wrath. And in the presence of the
holy angels and in front of the Lamb shall anger be transformed into pain like
the pain of fire and sulfur.
Their suffering rises and darkens the encircling
air like smoke through the cycles of time. And day and night those who made the
beast into their god, who honored its picture as the highest, who took its
being into their innermost being, find no peace. In this place however there
works the power of the steadfast endurance of those who have taken the healing
power of the Spirit into themselves, who have fulfilled the goals of the
Spirit, and who have worked trusting in Jesus’ healing deed.
And I heard a voice out of the worlds of Spirit
which said, “Write this down: People of heaven are those who die in the Lord
from now on. Yes, says the spirit, let them rest from their efforts and labors,
since their good deeds, the fruits of their lives, are not lost along their
paths of soul, but have preceded them here.
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| Ottheimrich Bible |
And I looked, and suddenly I saw in the spirit a
white cloud, and seated upon the cloud the figure of a son of humanity, with a
golden crown upon his head and a sharpened sickle. And another angel stepped
forth from the temple crying in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud:
“Let your sickle go forth and harvest, for the hour
of harvest has come; ripe and dry and firm are the crops of the earth.”
And the one seated on the cloud threw his sickle
down upon the events on earth, and the earth’s crop was harvested.
And again, another angel came out of the temple in
the heavens; and he too held a sharpened sickle. And a further angel came out who
tended the fire at the altar. He cried out with a mighty voice to him who held
the sharpened sickle and said, “Let your sickle go forth and harvest the
grapevines of the earth, for their grapes have reached their prime.”
So the angel threw his sickle down to the events on
earth, and he harvested the earth’s vineyard and threw the grapes into the
great winepress of God’s anger. And they took the winepress outside the city
and trampled the grapes. Blood flowed from the winepress that reached to the
muzzles of the horses for sixteen hundred miles around.
November 17, 2019
Revelation 14: 1-20
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| Photo Adam Carr |
From mythology, we have the image of the centaur. From the waist up, it is human. The lower half is a horse. The most famous of these creatures was a great healer, for its animal instincts contained great wisdom. But its animal nature also harbored great aggression and destructiveness.
The centaur is a picture of the composition of a particular stage in being human. Our physical nature is like the horse, with all its instinctual wisdom as well as its aggression. Our eternal spirit, our true humanness, is wedded on earth to our animal nature. Our self-awareness rises above our animal nature. Our truly human self is meant to guide and direct our animal nature, and ultimately to transform it.
It is humanity’s task gradually, over lifetimes, to make ourselves fully human, to transform the beast in us into something more akin to an angel.
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| Durer |
Today’s gospel reading from the middle of the Revelation to John shows a future division of humanity into those who have achieved this transformation, and those who have not. There is a great crowd in white, standing before God’s throne. They have remained true in developing their pure human core. They have taken the image and activity of the Son of Man into themselves, the activity of the Divine Human Being. What is inside them shines out of their countenance. Therefore they have the name of the Lamb and the Father written on their foreheads. They have become the seed of a new phase of human existence. They sing a new song. What they have achieved, the development of their true humanity will carry over into a new spiritualized world.
What is ripe is harvested. What is no longer of use is destroyed. One day, humanity’s inner ripeness will be tested. Those who have transformed their animal nature into something higher, who have matured their true humanity, will enter the company of the angels. Those who have failed to master their beastly nature, who wear the mark of the beast on their foreheads, will have to suffer the purifying fire. For the beast in us must be overcome.
Through Christ, the Light of the World, we can achieve this transformation. He is the bridge to our true humanity. Connecting with Him, conversing with Him, praying with Him, is the Way. A medieval mystic says:
No one can be saved
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| Ghent Altarpiece |
without divine light.
Divine light causes us
to begin and thereafter
enables our progress
as it leads us
to the summit of perfection.
Therefore, if you desire
to begin
and would receive
this divine light, pray.
If you have begun to make
some little progress
and would see this light
intensified within you, pray.
And if you have reached
the summit of perfection,
and desire to be super-illumined
so as to remain in that state, pray. *
*Blessed Angela of Foligno (1248 – 1309), “Divine Light,” in Love’s Immensity, Mystics on the Endless Life, Scott Cairns, p. 87
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