Saturday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Our Lady of
St Meinrad Archabbey

They will look upon his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
Night will be no more, nor will they need light from lamp or sun,
for the Lord God shall give them light,
and they shall reign forever and ever.

And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true…

These words bring us to the end of the Book of Revelation and the end of the liturgical year. They promise everlasting bliss to the faithful.

Sometimes I wonder how a human being – myself in particular – could be content forever. That’s seems like a very long time.

Revelation is addressed to people who live with great distress; they long for nothing so much as peace. They have seen enough of ostracism, mistreatment, persecution and war. They have lived with anxiety and fear and doubt even as they courageously cling to their faith in Jesus Christ. They have been tossed hither and yon by the hatred of enemies, the contempt of their neighbors and betrayal in their own trusted circles. Heaven for them is freedom from fear, reasonable prosperity, contentment and eternal rest. It is a place where they can sing and dance and sleep and pray and enjoy one another’s company under God’s protecting eyes.

What should people who have never known such distress expect? As a Catholic born in post-war America, I have enjoyed the prosperity of these years. No foreign nation has invaded my country. In fact my nation has dominated the earth throughout my life, threatening mortal peril to anyone who might threaten not just my life but my “way of life.” At one time, like others in my class, I supposed the entire world could – and eventually would -- enjoy my middle class entitlement to prosperity, mobility, education, health care, longevity, retirement and leisure. 

Only recently do I realize that day will never come, even as the American way of life becomes the apparent goal of billions of people. The earth cannot afford very many more Americans.

Revelation reminds us that no one can imagine the future. Saint Paul says of eternal bliss: “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart… God has prepared for those who love him…" (I Cor 2:9)

He once described his personal contentment as he cooled his heels in another Roman jail:

I have learned, in whatever situation I find myself, to be self-sufficient. I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me. (Philippians 4: 11-13)

His satisfaction with less than luxury -- with nothing more than sufficiency -- may well be an opening to eternal bliss in the Lord.