Welcome to the Pauline Family's "Year of the Bible"! We are about to finish our year-long project, so read along with me. But first, let us pray:
Come, Lord Jesus!
Come to me as I read these divinely inspired writings.
Come and enlighten me so that I receive from them the nourishment I need to be your faithful witness in the world today.
Come to people who are seeking you, and to those whom I may meet on my daily round.
Come to those who see the Word lived by those who do not even know your name.
Come to those who hear the Word proclaimed, but see it contradicted by those who speak it.
And when the last day dawns, come to take us all to be with you!
Maranatha!
Come, Lord Jesus!
Today's chapters are Revelation 12-14.
We begin with a very familiar image: a "woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" (Rev 12:1). Our Lady? We certainly have many images of Mary based on this description. But remember from reading earlier books of the Bible that Mary herself is a "type" or prophetic foreshadowing of the Church. There are many things about the Woman of Revelation that can lead us to interpret the image as representing Israel, Mary, and the Church. (Only Israel and Mary actually brought forth, in history, the male child "destined to rule all the nations": a fact we will celebrate liturgically on December 25!)
This chapter also gives us the powerful image of St Michael as the warrior angel (from a tradition that goes back to Daniel 12). Jude (Jude 8) had already demonstrated that Michael's victory is not in military achievement, but in humility, something before which "the ancient serpent" is helpless.
In our reading today we also come across several numerical references that John expects us to understand. Most of us have a sense that 666 is...not good. 6, being one less than completion (7), is highly imperfect. Nero's name "adds up" to 666 in Greek or Hebrew, but not in Latin!
Other numbers in today's reading and in the rest of the book are less well-known but come down to variables of three and a half (which is itself half of 7): 3½ days, 42 months; 1260 days; "a time, and times, and half a time” (1+2+½= 3½). This represents a limited timeframe within God's providence, and ready to spring forth into something new (the ½ is already an anticipation). It also reflects the "year and two years and half a year" in Daniel's prophecy of a king (Antiochus Epiphanes) who will "speak against the Most High and oppress the holy ones of the Most High" (Dan 7:24-26).
After the warning about the beast's number and image, John redirects our attention to "Mount Zion" and the Lamb. We don't have to ask if the 144,000 people mentioned here are less than or more than or different from those indicated in Chapter 7: John is not delivering census results, but a vision! They are "unblemished" like the perfect animals brought to the Temple for sacrifice; they are the "first fruits": the representative beginning of redeemed humanity (cf. Papandrea, The Wedding of the Lamb, pages 103-104). These are the myriads of people whose pure faith in Jesus kept them from selling out to the many deceptions of the "beast" in their society (or in ours). The important thing for us, the readers, is "to be in that number when the saints go marching in!"
For more background
Years ago I attended a lecture series by Dr James Papandrea on the Book of Revelation and found it very helpful. His book, The Wedding of the Lamb: A Historical Approach to the Book of Revelation, is kind of expensive, but there is a Kindle version in case you are looking for a companion to Revelation by a Catholic theologian.
Another helpful resource (one that I am currently reading) is by Dr Michael J. Gorman, a Scripture scholar who is a particular expert on St Paul. Gorman is a United Methodist, but he teaches at a Catholic seminary and I have no hesitation about recommending his work. Catholic readers will just find that most of his immediate applications are to mainline Protestant experiences, rather than Catholic parish life. (By the way, I find Gorman's understanding of Paul on "Cruciformity" very much in line with our Founder's thought and with the teachings of St John Eudes.)
Years ago I attended a lecture series by Dr James Papandrea on the Book of Revelation and found it very helpful. His book, The Wedding of the Lamb: A Historical Approach to the Book of Revelation, is kind of expensive, but there is a Kindle version in case you are looking for a companion to Revelation by a Catholic theologian. 
Another helpful resource (one that I am currently reading) is by Dr Michael J. Gorman, a Scripture scholar who is a particular expert on St Paul. Gorman is a United Methodist, but he teaches at a Catholic seminary and I have no hesitation about recommending his work. Catholic readers will just find that most of his immediate applications are to mainline Protestant experiences, rather than Catholic parish life. (By the way, I find Gorman's understanding of Paul on "Cruciformity" very much in line with our Founder's thought and with the teachings of St John Eudes.)
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