The first Triumphant Mystery:
The Clarion CaLL
Jesus Christ is the lamb of great triumph. He alone was found worthy! A clarion call issues forth to all and from all: “To the one who sits on the throne ... be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever.”
READING The Mystery in HOLY Scripture
Revelation 5:1-9, New American Bible, USCCB.org
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I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who sat on the throne. It had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a mighty angel who proclaimed in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?"
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But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to examine it. I shed many tears because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to examine it. One of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed, enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals.”
Then I saw standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and the elders a Lamb that seemed to have been slain … He came and received the scroll from the right hand of the one who sat on the throne … When he took it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. They sang a new hymn: “Worthy are you to receive the scroll and to break open its seals…”
Revelation 5:13, New American Bible, USCCB.org
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe, cry out: “To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever.”
Meditating on the Mystery: Place Yourself IN the Scene
(Using your imagination, try to put yourself in the scene…)
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Since our youngest days, Our Lord revealed himself to us in in partial and varied ways. We were children, like all of Creation, and spiritually immature. We could never dare to approach the full truth of God and expect to live. He would lovingly send a glimpse here, or inspiration there. Even the prophets of old … the great prophets like Jonah, Moses, Elijah, and the Baptist … they all saw only one face or another of the jewel of God’s loving truth.
We recall, you and I, the words of the Apostle Paul: “At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully.”
All this has changed! We suddenly see the Lamb that was slain, with John, with all the world, now before our very eyes. The Lamb is worthy, and he has opened the scroll for all the world to see! The Lord no longer speaks partially, but fully. All are presented with his truth, at once, in the full light of glorious day. We hear “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe, cry out: ‘To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever.’” The words of St. Paul are fulfilled in our hearing … you and I, like all creatures, have finally seen the Lord as he is.
He has issued a clarion call to conversion to all. How will we answer it? How will you answer it?
