2024/07/22

153. The Mystery of the Eucharist Appearing in the Book of Revelation

Previously, we reviewed our discussion of the Eucharist and the priesthood hidden in heaven and the wilderness in the fourth prophecy of the Prophetic Composition of the Book of Revelation (see diagram below), the Prophecy of the Fate of the Church with the Priesthood and the Sacrament of the Eucharist Hidden in the Wilderness and Heaven (chapters 12-16). Based on this reflection, we will go on our current discussion. 

The Eucharist, hidden in heaven in the fourth prophecy, appears in the last paragraph of the sixth prophecy, the Prophecy of the Completion of the Liturgy of the Mass (chapters 19-20). In this paragraph that begins with the phrase, "Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it; from his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them" (Revelation 20:11), the "great white throne and him who sat upon" evokes the image of the Eucharist, and it describes the salvation of the evil spirits by the Eucharist (cf. 20:12-15). Then, the paragraph ends with the phrase: "Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; and if any one's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire" (20:14-15). This structure, with the bolded passages as the decisive clues, shows that also the opening paragraph of the seventh prophecy, the Prophecy of the Spirituality of the Holy Spirit (chapters 21-22), continuously describes the Eucharist (cf. 21:1-8). 

The opening paragraph of the Prophecy of the Spirituality of the Holy Spirit begins with the statement: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more" (21:1). It is followed by the phrase "And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (21:2), which indicates that this paragraph is related to the sixth prophecy, the Prophecy of the Completion of the Liturgy of the Mass (chapters 19-20). That is because "a bride adorned for her husband" represents the table of Jesus' last supper, i.e. the altar (cf. blog № 149). Hence, both the "loud voice from the throne" (21:3) and the voice of "he who sat upon the throne" (21:5) that the author heard in this paragraph are from the Eucharist. Here, the story tells how the Eucharist, the mystery of the second incarnation, so to speak, by the Holy Spirit, continues and preserves all that Jesus Christ has accomplished (cf. 21:3-7). The paragraph ends with, "But as for the cowardly, the faithless, ... their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death" (21:8).

Jesus Christ, fully God and fully human, cast out the demons but did not save them while he was alive in this world in a human body. Instead, he did save them by dying and descending into hell (cf. blog № 147). The Eucharist still saves demons similarly, i.e. by being eaten by believers and dying (cf. 20:12-15). Furthermore, the Eucharist makes us realise that God is with us, just as Jesus was with the people, and that the Kingdom of God is there (cf. 21:3-4). 

The Holy Spirit, who makes us realise all that Jesus Christ has achieved, fulfils in the believers who receive the Eucharist the words of Jesus, who said, "In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you" (John 14:20) and makes them experience concretely, as it were, the mystery of the third incarnation. By doing so, the Holy Spirit leads them into the spirituality of the Holy Spirit, which can reproduce in them the state of the mystery of the third incarnation (cf. Revelation 21:5-6). In the spirituality of the Holy Spirit, the Christian who calls God his heavenly Father becomes at the same time a child of Jesus, who is God (cf. 21:7). In this way, the Christians, when united with the Holy Spirit sent in the name of Jesus and collaborating with him, will bring the image of Jesus Christ into the world. 

So, the warning at the end of this paragraph, which reads as follows, is here addressed to us Christians, as the words "the faithless" indicate: "But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death" (21:8). 

Even Christians who have received the Holy Spirit, like the Apostles, who were told by the ascending Jesus, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you" (Acts 1:8), will not escape the second death if they do not believe in the power that they have received but become cowardly and faithless and commit one unrighteous act after another. 

Thus, the first paragraph of the Prophecy of the Spirituality of the Holy Spirit (chapters 21-22), together with the last paragraph of the Prophecy of the Completion of the Liturgy of the Mass (chapters 19-20), reveals the mystery of the Eucharist hidden in heaven in the fourth prophecy. As for the mystery of the priesthood, also hidden in the wilderness, we will discuss it in the articles from the next on. 

Maria K. M.