Friday of Week 33 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
Apocalypse 10:8-11 | Psalm 118(119):14,24,72,103,111,131 | Luke 19:45-48
I went to the angel and asked him to give me the small scroll, and he said, ‘Take it and eat it; it will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.’ (Apocalypse 10:9)
I spent the last two days roaming the exhibits and networking at the Singapore Fintech Festival. What particularly struck me was the sheer availability of coffee at the Festival; at least three major exhibitors had brought in local baristas to brew free java for this event, and there were probably a few more that I missed.
As a coffee lover, I was naturally up to trying all the double-shot cappuccinos I could lay my hands on, and wasn’t shy about going back for seconds if I liked a particular barista’s creations. Of course, with all that dark acidic liquid swirling around in my stomach, I ended both days with a purge, but my mouth was well-satisfied.
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The common interpretation of the scroll’s effects in today’s reading is quite straightforward: The sweetness comes from its prediction of the end times and the final victory of God and His people, while the sourness stems from its record of our sufferings and desolation here on earth.
The scroll, in fact, is analogous to the scripture with which we’ve been gifted, and which we’ve been called to contemplate daily.
Scripture has never predicted that our journey of faith on earth would be smooth and painless. We will be beset by aches and pains, distractions and temptations, crosses that we are called to bear in Christ’s name.
But Christ also promised us easy yokes and light burdens (Matthew 11:30) when we follow Him, and it’s true that when we focus on Him, on the incredibly heavy cross He bore and died on for all our sakes, our sufferings and sorrows are that much lighter.
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After eating the scroll in his vision, John of Patmos was charged with continuing his prophetic labours. As we have received the Word of God, so we too are tasked to be prophets of a sort, to spread the sweetness of the Good News to others, and help to alleviate the sour pangs of their suffering as much as humanly possible.
In this way, may we all come together on the last day, to shed the caustic burns of sin and sing sweet praise to our Lord and God. Amen.