Read the Bible with Me!

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 6-8.

Here, finally, we encounter the famous "four horsemen of the Apocalypse" in their original setting! Remember, we are still in Heaven: The Lamb (slain but alive) is the only one capable of opening the seals of the book or scroll, for he has already triumphed (5:5). Even though the breaking of the first six seals seems to unleash nothing but unmitigated disaster upon the earth, it is all within the context of the Lamb's already-won victory. As the martyrs beneath the altar were told: It is just necessary to wait a bit longer to actually see things fulfilled.

Mosaic based on Rev 7:9, commissioned
by Bl. James Alberione. 

A sense of that divine providence can be seen in Chapter 7, where the four angels stand at the ready at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds. ("Four" symbolizing "all of them.") Just as we saw in Ezekiel, God is going to have his chosen ones sealed (as you were in Baptism and Confirmation), and there are hundreds of thousands of them (thousands being symbolic of "vast numbers"). It is now that we get the immense vision illustrated in mosaic (from the crypt-level chapel of the Queen of Apostles Basilica) of 

a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches...

All the singing stops when the seventh seal is broken. Heaven falls silent for a time before a series of plagues are unleashed on the earth, recalling the plagues Moses unleashed on Egypt. 

Start reading here.

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.)