2021/12/20

18. There Shall Be No More Delay

The voice of a mighty angel, who came down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, said, "There shall be no more delay. At the time when you hear the seventh angel blow his trumpet, the mysterious plan of God shall be fulfilled" (Revelation 10:6-7). When the seventh angel sounded the trumpet, a particular event took place in heaven and on earth (11:15-19). In Revelation, there were two more events before it, and each of the three events has key words: the first was the throne and the seven spirits of God (4:2-11), the second was the angel, the censer, and the altar (8:1-5), and the third was the temple of God and the ark of the covenant (11:15-19). These words and the words, "the mysterious plan of God shall be fulfilled," tell us that these events are the omens of the beginning of the Mass. So, we see the phrase, "There shall be no more delay," referred to the birth of the Body and Blood of Christ. Then, a great sign appeared in heaven (12:1). This sign is depicted as a woman, but actually, it shows the image of the Holy Spirit and the priest collaborating for the body and blood of Christ becoming present in the Mass. The Holy Spirit is the Counselor, whom Jesus will send from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father.¹ Jesus, before he entered into his Passion, made the Apostles, whom he had chosen himself as helpers of the Holy Spirit, inherit all his mother's authority. The authority of the mother of Jesus is, firstly, to have conceived Jesus through the Holy Spirit and become his mother. So, Jesus instituted the Eucharist and input the Word, by which the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, into Apostles' memories. They, at every Mass, perform their role of giving birth to the Word in a way asking the Father to fulfil the Word. Secondly, it is to know everything about Jesus, and the Apostles were given the grace to know everything about Jesus by the Holy Spirit.² Thirdly, it is that just as Jesus turned water into wine, responding to his mother's request,³ the Apostles would ask the Father for anything in Jesus' name,⁴ especially for the bread and wine to become the body and blood of Christ. Finally, Jesus, on the Cross, united his mother and the Apostle, his beloved disciple, in a parent-child bond. And from that, the Apostle also took her into his home.⁵ By this action, the Apostle became the legitimate heir of the authority of Jesus' mother.

Reference 1. John 15:26, 2. John 14:26, 16:13, 3. John 2:1-11, 4. John 16:23, 5. John 19:26-27

Maria K. M.