2023/08/28

106. Successors of the Apostles, Part 1

We will move on in our discussion of the Book of Revelation. "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years were ended. After that he must be loosed for a little while" (Revelation 20:1-3). 

The description, "coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain," suggests that the "key" the angel holds is that of the kingdom of heaven. That means the "key of the bottomless pit" is the key of the kingdom of heaven. So, we can see that the above description of Revelation is the fulfilment of the following words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew in the manner of the "Spirit of prophecy" with the "key of the kingdom of heaven" as the clue. "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:19). 

The "keys of the kingdom of heaven" in these words of Jesus' testimony were the "key of the bottomless pit" that the angel brought to earth from heaven in the Book of Revelation. The "keys" Jesus said he would give Peter could seize "the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan," bind him, cast him into the bottomless pit, and lock him up. It keeps the "ancient serpent," i.e., man's accidental information, which occurs where several people are gathered (cf. blog №4), from arising among "those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." 

This scene in Revelation is guided by the "blessedness" of "those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb" (cf. Revelation 19:9). So, we can say that the expressions "for a thousand years" and "till the thousand years were ended" refer to the time Jesus commanded, "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19), the time when the Mass is celebrated. 

As we discussed in the last issue, the place where the Mass is celebrated is where believers who hear the Word were born anew as children of God, from which they came and to which they will return. This place must function as the place where every lust of the believer is most reasonably removed, and it must be the place where the believer can say that they saw the Lord in the Eucharistic Host face to face. For this to happen, it is necessary to seal off man's accidental information which may arise in this place. The successors of the Apostles, having been given the authority to use the "keys of the kingdom of heaven," or the "key of the bottomless pit," which can bind and loose on earth, have a responsibility to exercise that authority.

To be continued

Maria K. M.