Coming Soon: The Vision Begins
Last week there was another meeting of “The Oratory of St. Arnoldus“. This meant that Kevin and I visited a new bar, cracked open our copies of Coming Soon, and dug into the final book of the Bible, The Apocalypse…
Tag: Coming Soon
Coming Soon: The Liturgical Apocalypse
The third chapter of Dr. Barber’s book he discusses the relationship between the Book of Revelation and the Catholic Liturgy. It is a brief review of the the material covered in another excellent book by Dr. Hahn’s book, The Lamb’s Supper.
Familiar Imagery & Structure
Dr. Barber begins by noting that no other apocalyptic book of antiquity relies quite so heavily on liturgical imagery as the Book of Revelation. In John’s book we find many things extremely familiar to a Catholic who attends Mass: Sunday worship, priests, vestments, incense, chalices, angels, saints etc.
In fact, the book of Revelation has profoundly impacted Christian liturgy and architecture throughout the centuries. For example, the celebrant’s chair is symbolic of the throne of God, and the surrounding chairs like those of the “elders” (Revelation 4:4).
This final book of the Bible is even divided into three parts which each have parallels with the sequence of the Catholic liturgy:
1. Penitential Rite
The early section of Revelation concerns seven letters which call the Church to repentance.
2. Liturgy of the Word
Later, a book is opened which brings about judgement.
3. Liturgy of the Eucharist
The book ends with the Church being united to Christ in the supper of the Lamb.
But why use liturgical imagery? Revelation uses liturgical imagery because the Eucharistic celebration is the way the Lord comes to His Church. Dr. Barber points out that the Greek word “parousia” which is used to refer to the Lord’s “coming” actually has the primary meaning of “presence”. Upon hearing this fact, every Catholic immediately thinks of the Eucharist and Jesus’ real presence in the Sacrament.
“Every Eucharist is Parousia, the Lord’s coming” – Cardinal Ratzinger
Coming Soon: Was Jesus wrong?
In Revelation, Jesus says that He is “…coming soon” (Revelation 22:20). However, it is now 2,000 years later and we haven’t yet had the Second Coming. Dr Barber, in the second chapter of his book, addresses the obvious question: “Was Jesus wrong?”.
How soon is soon?
Some exegetes solve this problem of Jesus’ absence by pointing to St. Peter’s second epistle:
But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day – 2 Peter 3:8
These exegetes make the argument that Jesus is indeed coming “soon”, but our version of “soon” is not the same as His.
Come Soon…finally arrived!
Quite some time ago I wrote about Coming Soon, a book by Dr. Michael Barber concerning the Book of Revelation (“Apocalypse”). I enjoyed Dr. Barber’s book a lot and I expressed how much I’d like to work through that book again in some kind of study group.
Well, nearly three years later, it has finally happened. Earlier this week I met up with a friend at a local Pub and we went through the first chapter of Coming Soon. I’ve affectionately dubbed our little group as “The Oratory of St. Arnoldus“ 🙂
As we work through Dr. Barber’s book each week I will attempt to do a short post summarizing our discussion…
Proverbs 31:6
"Coming Soon"
As the Labo(u)r Day weekend and my personal mini-retreat draws to a close I’ve just finished the book I’ve been chipping away at for the last few weeks: “Coming Soon” by Dr. Michael Barber:
