Mary in Revelation

The next few posts are going to be pretty "meaty" reading. We are going to be digging deeper into scripture and into imagery and symbolism. Candy said once that Catholics don't read or understand the bible. Sam Gipp, one of Candy's favorite authors said that the bible is a book for the common man - anyone can read and understand it. I think these next few posts, as we read through Scott Hahn's Hail, Holy Queen: The Mother of God in the Word of God will prove that neither of those claims is entirely true.

Granted, this isn't necessarily light reading, but this needs to be posted to give an entire picture of how the Catholic church views Mary.

So starting on page 49, we will be reading about the Apostle John and his book of Revelation. Stick with me this week and hopefully we can make it out of the chapter! Today is just a prelude!

Revelation is the usual English rendering of the Greek Apokalypsis; but the Greek word is richer than that. It is more accurately translated as "unveiling" and was used by Greek-speaking Jews to describe the moment when the bride was unveiled before her husband, just before the couple consummated their marriage.

So once again, as in Cana, we find ourselves with John at a wedding feast. John writes in Revelation: "Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Rev 19:9). Now throughout the Apocalypse, John uses "the Lamb" to denote Jesus. But who is the bride at this wedding?

Most interpreters, both ancient and modern, believe that the holy city is the Church, depicted by John as the New Jersusalem; for St. Paul also speaks of the Church in the bridal relationship with Christ (Eph 5:31-32).

I would like to focus on one of its (book of Revelation's) culminating scenes, its first "unveiling" which takes place midway through the book.

To Jews of the first century, the shocker in the Apocalypse was surely John's disclosure at the end of chapter 11. It is then that even hearing seven trumpet blasts, John sees the heavenly temple opened and within it a miracle- the ark of the covenant.

Homework- read 2 Maccabees 2: 5-8