Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Revelation 15,1-4

And I saw in heaven another sign, great and wonderful: seven angels were bringing the seven plagues that are the last of all, because they exhaust the anger of God. I seemed to be looking at a sea of crystal suffused with fire, and standing by the lake of glass, those who had fought against the beast and won, and against his statue and the number which is his name. They all had harps from God, and they were singing the hymn of Moses, the servant of God, and the hymn of the Lamb: How great and wonderful are all your works, Lord God Almighty; upright and true are all your ways, King of nations. Who does not revere and glorify your name, O Lord? For you alone are holy, and all nations will come and adore you for the many acts of saving justice you have shown.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The last set of seven that appears before the end-time now opens. We are at the end of time, and judgment is about to occur. The seven angels who blew the trumpets are now replaced by seven angels who each hold a cup. The apostle speaks of a sea of glass on which stand the witnesses of Christ, those who resisted the Beast. And, as the Hebrews did after crossing the Red Sea, they sing a hymn of praise to the Lord for his wonders; they do not sing their witness; they do not sing their own praises; they do not expect any privileges because of their works, as we are usually tempted to do. They praise, the "great and amazing...deeds" of God. It is the Lord, in fact, who strengthened them, protected them, and saved them. They have clear the primacy of God over their lives, rather over the entire human history. Revelation presents them to us so that they can teach us how to act before God and how to direct our praises to Him. Their song is woven together from biblical citations, as if to remind us of how precious the Bible is as a resource for our prayer. Let us think of the beauty and strength of the prayer of psalms. Very efficaciously someone defined them as the words God put on our lips so that when we say them we are sure that they reach and touch His heart. At the end of their song, John sees the tent of witnesses open in heaven. According to the tradition of Israel, the tent was the place where God revealed himself to his people, a place of mercy and love, not a place of anger and punishment. Every assembly of prayer should become like the tent of witness and mercy.