Tempora Finis

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

The night before yesterday I returned from a business trip on the left coast of the United States. I was there for a little more than a week and had the opportunity to attend Mass at one of the local parishes in the area where I was staying. Obviously yesterday I returned to Mass at my hometown Parish. I may as well have stayed on the left coast given the message that issued forth from a substitute priest who admitted from the pulpit to being a product of the 1960s.

Now the Daily Scripture Readings for the 33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time included Daniel 12:1-3 and Mark 13:24-32, both of which have an eschatological (or end-times) theme. The visiting priest started off his homily innocently enough, explaining that Fundamentalist Christians often take a literal view of almost all of Sacred Scripture without giving sufficient allowance to the fact that the Bible is actually a collection of many different books written by authors of varied experiences over millennia, and as such has literary genres that employ a wide variety of techniques such as parables, allegories, hyperboles, metaphors, similes, etc. He used the example of non-literal meaning by citing a typical sports news report on the television or internet that the Tigers slaughtered the Gamecocks. Would a reader a thousand years in the future assume that a pride of tigers actually slaughtered a flock of chickens in a sports arena? So this point is correct.

But then the priest went far afield when he claimed that Jesus own words that heaven and earth will pass away does not mean that earth will be destroyed because God loves the earth (and us) so much that He would never destroy it (and by extension punish us). This obviously is in direct conflict with what 2^nd Peter 3:10-13 states:

10 But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up. 11 Seeing then that all these things are to be dissolved, what manner of people ought you to be in holy conversation and godliness? 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of the Lord, by which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with the burning heat? 13 But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to his promises, in which justice dwelleth.

And the priest ignored precisely what Revelation 21:1 states:

1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth was gone, and the sea is now no more.

Now I do agree with the emphasis placed on Mark 13:32:

32 But of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father.

The Lord could return today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year or a thousand years from now. No man knows. And any one of us could die tonight, making the timing of the Lord’s return a moot point as we enter our Particular Judgment. But the disregard given to the prophetic aspect of Christ’s own words was (while not surprising since it came from a priest of the 1960s), very disappointing and depressing. We can disagree about various interpretations of events described in Mark chapter 13 and its corollaries in the other two synoptic Gospels (Matthew 24 and Luke 21). For example, some parts of Jesus’ prophecy obviously were fulfilled when Roman General Titus destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, but others remain yet to be fulfilled. This disagreement among modern commentators is why I default to what the Church Fathers wrote, in this case St. John Chrysostom who wrote about these things in Homilies 75, 76 and 77 on the Gospel of St. Matthew. I really wish that before priests begin to give a homily or sermon, they would at least read what the early Church Fathers said instead of “winging” it with post-Vatican II nonsense.

Purgatorium

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

One of the things that is so frustrating about so-called adherents to the doctrine of Sola Scripture is their cherry picking on what they base their man-made theology and their ignoring what is inconvenient to their man-made theology. I really don't understand this cognitive dissonance. The passage of Sacred Scripture between verses 11 and 16 of 1st Corinthians chapter within today's Epistle reading in the Divine Liturgy is a case in point:

12 If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,13 the work of each will come to light, for the Day will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire [itself] will test the quality of each one’s work.14 If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage.15 But if someone’s work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire.

It's obvious that this is a reference to Purgatory which is explained by articles 1030 through 1032 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

1030 All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire:

As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.

1032 This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: "Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin." [2nd Maccabees 12:46] From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:

Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice [Job 1:5], why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.

St. John Chrysostom (Doctor of the Church, born at Antioch, AD 347; died at Commana in Pontus, 14 September, AD 407) goes on to explain this further in his 41st homily on 1st Corinthians:

Let us then give them aid and perform commemoration for them. For if the children of Job were purged by the sacrifice of their father, why do you doubt that when we too offer for the departed, some consolation arises to them? Since God is wont to grant the petitions of those who ask for others. And this Paul signified saying, that in a manifold Person your gift towards us bestowed by many may be acknowledged with thanksgiving on your behalf. 2 Corinthians 1:11 Let us not then be weary in giving aid to the departed, both by offering on their behalf and obtaining prayers for them: for the common Expiation of the world is even before us. Therefore with boldness do we then intreat for the whole world, and name their names with those of martyrs, of confessors, of priests. For in truth one body are we all, though some members are more glorious than others; and it is possible from every source to gather pardon for them, from our prayers, from our gifts in their behalf, from those whose names are named with theirs. Why therefore do you grieve? Why mourn, when it is in your power to gather so much pardon for the departed?

In his encyclical Spe Salvi Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI explains that the duration of time in Purgatory is not of a terrestrial nature, that is, subject to the laws of physical space and time:

It is clear that we cannot calculate the “duration” of this transforming burning in terms of the chronological measurements of this world. The transforming “moment” of this encounter eludes earthly time-reckoning—it is the heart's time, it is the time of “passage” to communion with God in the Body of Christ...

...if “Purgatory” is simply purification through fire in the encounter with the Lord, Judge and Saviour, how can a third person intervene, even if he or she is particularly close to the other? When we ask such a question, we should recall that no man is an island, entire of itself. Our lives are involved with one another, through innumerable interactions they are linked together. No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone. The lives of others continually spill over into mine: in what I think, say, do and achieve. And conversely, my life spills over into that of others: for better and for worse. So my prayer for another is not something extraneous to that person, something external, not even after death. In the interconnectedness of Being, my gratitude to the other—my prayer for him—can play a small part in his purification. And for that there is no need to convert earthly time into God's time: in the communion of souls simple terrestrial time is superseded.

For Protestants who may not understand, everyone who goes to Purgatory after death eventually ends up in Heaven after purgation is completed. No one who goes to Purgatory after death ever goes to Hell, and no one in Hell ever escapes to go to either Purgatory or Heaven. And our prayers for those in purgatory are a spiritual act of mercy. Lastly, the doctrine of Purgatory is entirely Biblical as the discussion above demonstrates - those people who are "saved" but in an imperfect state of being marred by the effects of sin will be cleansed by fire, but in a non-terrestrial, spiritual sense where the passage of time does not have the meaning as it does in physical space and time.

Meae Cogitationes de Electione Spatii Medii

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

The mid-term election results are summarized here:

Democrats take control of the House, but Trump voters bolster Republicans in the Senate

My thoughts on this mid-term election are simple:

The American people were disgusted with the slander and character assassination leveled by Democratic Senators at Brett Kavanagh during his confirmation hearings to SCOTUS, and with their manipulation of women to falsely accuse him of rape. Similarly, the American people are appalled at the childish temper tantrums of leftists when they don’t get their way, and the constant barrage of hatred and anger against the President by the news media. Thus, the GOP has held onto control of the US Senate.

The American people are equally disgusted with the bombast, demagoguery, vulgarity and insensitivity which daily emanates from the President via his Twitter account and his rallies. He matches word for word, action for action the insanity of the liberal progressive feminist left instead of behaving with the modesty, moderation and equanimity expected of the world’s most powerful leader. Thus, the Democrat Party regained control of the US House of Representatives.

Let us pray:

MOST gracious God, we humbly beseech thee, as for the people of these United States in general, so especially for their Senate and Representatives in Congress assembled; that thou wouldest be pleased to direct and prosper all their consultations, to the advancement of thy glory, the good of thy Church, the safety, honour, and welfare of thy people; that all things may be so ordered and settled by their endeavours, upon the best and surest foundations, that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be establish among us for all generations. These and all other necessaries, for them, for us, and thy whole Church, we humbly beg in the Name and mediation of Jesus Christ, our most blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.

Concio LXII Sancti Augustini

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Today’s Gospel reading in the Holy Mass is Luke 14:15-24, the Parable of the Large Banquet. A person dining with Jesus says, “Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God.” Jesus then gives the story of a great dinner to which a man invited many. But when the time came for people to attend the banquet, excuse after excuse was given.

The first said to him,

'I have purchased a field and must go to examine it;

I ask you, consider me excused.'

And another said, 'I have purchased five yoke of oxen

and am on my way to evaluate them;

I ask you, consider me excused.'

And another said, 'I have just married a woman,

and therefore I cannot come.'

So the master of the house in a rage demanded that the poor, crippled, blind and lame be invited instead. Who however were those declining to come to the feast? St. Augustine tells us in his 62^nd sermon delivered at the Basilica Restitua:

(1) The man who had to examine a field that he had just purchased is the person subjected to the pride of life. The importance of what he does for himself supersedes the importance of attending the great feast of his master.

(2) The man who had just purchased five yoke of oxen is the person who subjected to the lust of the eyes, for the five yoke of oxen represent the five senses: (a) two eyes, (b) two ears, (c) two nostrils, (d) tongue and palate, and (e) skin inside and out.

(3) The man who had just married a woman is the person subjected to the lust of the flesh, for instead of bringing his new wife to the banquet, he must go home to satisfy his conjugal desires.

Here we see what prevents us from sitting at the Eucharistic Table of our Blessed Lord:

The Pride of Life

The Lust of the Eyes

The Lust of the Flesh.

Everyone is invited. Not everyone will however dine with our Lord and Savior.

Consequens Inobedientiae

Mordecai does not bow to Haman

Amici, Americani, Compatrioate,

Last night's Scripture reading within the Liturgy of the Hours was from Esther chapter 3 where Haman, a newly appointed official to the court of Persian King Ataxerxes, conspired to commit genocide against the entire Jewish people because Mordecai, a Jew in the king's court, would not bow in obeisance to him. As the reader may recall, Esther (Mordecai's niece and the young woman whom King Ataxerxes appointed to replace Vashti as Queen to reign from 479 to 465 BC) would act to prevent this genocide (which is the subject of the book named after her). But in this enmity between Mordecai and Haman there is a great lesson, for Haman was Agagite (3:1) and Mordecai was the great grandson of Kish (of the tribe of Benjamin) (2:5) who had been King Saul's father. And from that we have  history.

In Exodus 17:8-16 (a little later than 1450 BC), right after Moses struck the rock in the wilderness from which sprung water to quench the thirst of the wandering Israelites, a people called the Amalekites attacked. When Moses raised his hands over the battlefield, the Israelites prevailed. When due to weariness his arms dropped, the enemy prevailed. So Aaron and Hur held up Moses' arms and the victory went to Israel; the Amalekites were defeated. But they did not forget this incident and great hatred rose between the the two nations.

In 1st Samuel 15, the prophet Samuel told King Saul (1078 to 1010 BC) to finally eradicate the Amalekites - every man, woman, child, infant and beast - for what had happened during the sojourn of the Israelites in the Sinai desert. King Saul carried out only part of the task, saving as spoils the best of what the Amalekites had instead of destroying everything, and sparing the life of the Amalekite king, a man by the name of Agag (hence was Haman in the Persian court later on called an Agagite for he was a descendant of Agag). As a result of King Saul's disobedience, the kingdom of Israel was ripped from him as he ripped a part of Samuel's garment as Samuel went to leave.

Finally when the people of Judah were deported to Babylon, the last remaining descendant of Amalekite King Agag and the last remaining descendant of the line of Kish (father of King Saul), Mordecai, meet and they hate each other. If King Saul had carried out the Lord's command, then he likely would not have lost the kingdom and there would have been no Amalekite descendants, and all the train of events leading up to and including Haman's plot for genocide would not have occurred. But King Saul saved the best of the spoils of war for himself (using the excuse that he was going to sacrifice the spoils to Samuel's Lord).

You see, the attempt to wipe out all Jews from the face of the Earth occurred a thousand years before Haman resurrected that plot. And God (about five hundred years after the initial attempt and five hundred years before Haman's conspiracy) told King Saul to take care of this problem and Saul did not. The consequences for Saul's disobedience were not however relegated to him along but followed the Jewish people into captivity a half millennium later. Yet God in His eternal wisdom foresaw what would happen and put Esther in the right place at the right time to foul Haman's plans and bring final defeat onto the Amalekites. In spite of our disobedience God will always have the final victory, and from this the Chosen People were preserved for the eventual birth of the Messiah, the Savior of the World.

Prex et Meditatio - Gradus Undecimus

Amici, Americani, Compatiotae,

Today at Holy Mass Father Kirby at Our Lady of Grace gave a homily on prayer, and much of what he said reminded me of what my AA sponsor had told me some three decades ago. We are not supposed to pray for ourselves and what we want. God isn't a slot machine or a sugar daddy. Rather, what Father explained in his homily was very much like the way in which the 11th step in Alcoholics Anonymous is written:

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for the knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

Father gave the example of that great Patriarch Abraham who in his prayers to God made known his complaints. Father explained that when bad things happen to us, we don't complain to our enemies or to strangers. Rather, we complain to our closest friends for understanding and sympathy, and that is exactly what Abraham did. He was a friend of God and he made known to God his trials and troubles. Maybe that's all we have to offer right now, but if we pray consistently, then God can turn our complaints into thanksgiving.

That reminds me of something else early in sobriety. I would often complain to my sponsor about this, that and the other thing. I would ask him why all this "shit" was happening to me. Then he would say, "Be thankful that God cares about you so much that He is giving you all that Specialized High Intensity Training that you so desperately need. Now get on your knees in prayer and put some gratitude in your attitude. You didn't drink or drug today."

Father was far more diplomatic that my AA sponsor, and exhorted all of us in the congregation to begin small and spend perhaps just five minutes a day in prayer and make it a habit. Yes, while Father didn't directly speak about these, there are always the standard traditional prayers of the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and others. All of those are invaluable and should be regularly practiced. Lord knows that they have kept me sober through thick and thin when the proverbial poop hit the fan. But do I ever really talk with God as Abraham did? Or am I just mouthing the words in those rote prayers and not paying attention to what they really mean? Father ended of course with this excerpt from the Lord's Prayer:

Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo, et in terra.
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

That's the whole point of the 11th step in AA - not my will, not what I want because when I got what I wanted, I invariably got drunk. Rather, it's about what God wants and being grateful for that even if I may not like it.

UPDATE: I just finished the readings from the Liturgy of the Hours, and lo and behold, look at what I found:

A letter to Proba by St Augustine

Let us exercise our desire in prayer

Why in our fear of not praying as we should, do we turn to so many things, to find what we should pray for? Why do we not say instead, in the words of the psalm: I have asked one thing from the Lord, this is what I will seek: to dwell in the Lord’s house all the days of my life, to see the graciousness of the Lord, and to visit his temple? There, the days do not come and go in succession, and the beginning of one day does not mean the end of another; all days are one, simultaneously and without end, and the life lived out in these days has itself no end.

  So that we might obtain this life of happiness, he who is true life itself taught us to pray, not in many words as though speaking longer could gain us a hearing. After all, we pray to one who, as the Lord himself tells us, knows what we need before we ask for it.

  Why he should ask us to pray, when he knows what we need before we ask him, may perplex us if we do not realise that our Lord and God does not want to know what we want (for he cannot fail to know it), but wants us rather to exercise our desire through our prayers, so that we may be able to receive what he is preparing to give us. His gift is very great indeed, but our capacity is too small and limited to receive it. That is why we are told: Enlarge your desires, do not bear the yoke with unbelievers.

  The deeper our faith, the stronger our hope, the greater our desire, the larger will be our capacity to receive that gift, which is very great indeed. No eye has seen it; it has no colour. No ear has heard it; it has no sound. It has not entered man’s heart; man’s heart must enter into it.

  In this faith, hope and love we pray always with unwearied desire. However, at set times and seasons we also pray to God in words, so that by these signs we may instruct ourselves and mark the progress we have made in our desire, and spur ourselves on to deepen it. The more fervent the desire, the more worthy will be its fruit. When the Apostle tells us: Pray without ceasing, he means this: Desire unceasingly that life of happiness which is nothing if not eternal, and ask it of him who alone is able to give it.

Prophetes Zechariah Capita I per IV

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Over the past several days the Scripture readings in the Liturgy of the Hours have been extracted from the books of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, whose ministry along with Malachi occurred in the post-exilic period between release of the Jewish captives in Babylon and the rise of the empire of Alexander the Great. Haggai’s ministered from August to December 520 B.C. during the reign of Persian King Darius I. Zechariah ministered during the period of the Temple’s restoration starting in 520 B.C. Haggai’s book consists of the exhortation for the restoration of the Temple (1:1-15) and the oracles of encouragement (2:1-23). Zechariah is longer and composed of two parts, the first being from chapter 1 to chapter 8 and the second from chapter 9 to chapter 14. Zechariah has a somewhat apocalyptic theme to it, and as such certain things in its text correspond to sections in Daniel and Revelation. It also includes messianic prophecy fulfilled during Christ’s earthly ministry in the four Gospels. The discussion below is extracted from study notes in several Catholic and Protestant study Bibles in my collection (the thoughts are not original to me). I have found Zechariah to be a fascinating work that for too long I have neglected. I hope that the reader will find Zechariah as interesting as I have. That Sacred Scripture written by scores of different authors with varying cultural and linguistic backgrounds over millennia is united in the common theme of salvation history is endlessly intriguing.

DISCLAIMER: the notes presented below are just human opinion. If they help you think (whether you agree or not with the presented interpretation), then good – I have achieved my end-goal.

Zechariah 1:1-6

Call for Obedience

Zechariah 1:7-13

First Vision: Horses Patrolling the Earth

Four horsemen are among the myrtle trees. Myrtle may represent the people of Israel. In Hebrew it is the masculine equivalent of Hadassah, the Jewish name of Esther before she was made the Persian queen.

A red horse is standing in the shadows. Red, sorrel (speckled) and white horses are standing behind the red horse in the shadows and all four have been sent by the Lord to patrol the Earth.

Revelation 6:1-8

Four Horsemen

First Seal – rider on white horse wearing bow and crown rides to victory

Second Seal – rider on red horse takes peace away with the sword

Third Seal – rider on black horse holds a scale and raises food prices to starvation levels

Fourth Seal – rider on pale green horse named death and hades kills a quarter of Earth’s population

Zechariah 1:14-17

Oracular Response

The Lord’s anger towards complacent nations and generosity to Jerusalem

Zechariah 2:1-4

Second Vision: The Four Horns and the Four Workmen (Carpenters or Smiths)

The four horns scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem, symbols of the total political and military might of Judah’s imperial adversaries, probably representing Assyria, Babylonia, Media and Persia which had all existed up to the time of Zechariah’s prophecy. The number four represents universality rather than any specific number of foes. The four could also represent a prophecy of the breakup of the Empire of Alexander the Great into areas controlled by his four successors: Lysimachus, Cassander, Ptolemy and Seleucus. This would make what Zechariah wrote a prophecy to be fulfilled. Alternatively the four could represent the four great empires of the ancient world: Babylonian, Median-Persian, Greek and Roman. This also would require Zechariah’s words to be a prophecy.

The four workmen cut down the horns of the nations that raised their horns to scatter the land of Judah. They are the four agents of God’s power. In Revelation chapters 4 and 5 these could correspond to the four living creatures before God’s throne: the lion, the ox, the man and the eagle symbolizing the four Gospel writers (Mark, Luke, Matthew and John respectively) whose Evangelium (or Good News) brought about the demise of the paganism of the four great earthly empires up to that time: Babylon, Median-Persian, Greek and Roman.

Zechariah 2:5-9

Third Vision: The Man with the Measuring Cord

A man measures Jerusalem to determine the encirclement of fire by which the Lord will protect it because it will be un-walled. This appears to be a future prophecy for modern time when today Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is un-walled “because of the abundance of people and beasts in its midst.” The man seen by Zechariah is interpreted by some to be the pre-incarnate Christ.

Zechariah 2:10-17

Expansion on the Themes of the First Three Visions

Zechariah 3:1-7

Prophetic Vision: Joshua the High Priest

Satan accuses Joshua the High Priest. The Lord’s angel rebukes Satan. The angel orders the removal of Joshua’s filthy garments and their replacement with clean vestments and turban. The angel charges Joshua that if he walks in God’s ways, watching over God’s house, he will be given access to those standing here.

Lesson: Satan is our accuser (see Job chapter 1:6-12). We cannot remove our own filthiness – Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1^st John 1:7). But for us to have access to the courts of the Temple (Jesus), we must walk in His ways (i.e., do good works). Faith without works is dead (James 5:14-26)

Zechariah 3:8-10

Supplementary Oracle

The Lord’s promise of His servant the Branch and the placement of the Stone with seven facets before Joshua are Messianic prophecies. The Branch is a tree metaphor for the expected future ruler as a descendant of the Davidic dynasty. This imagery also appears in Is 11:1, 10; Jer 23:5; 33:15; and Zec 6:12. The stone with seven facets represents both the precious stones that were part of the high priest’s apparel and the building stone (see 4:7, 10) that initiated a major construction project. The seven facets (or “eyes”) indicate the totality of its role as an instrument of God’s vigilance and action. The term inscription can refer both to words engraved on the high priest’s apparel (Ex 28:9, 11) and to words chiseled on a cornerstone.

Revelation 5:6

The Four Living Creatures (Lion, Ox, Man and Eagle) standing before God’s throne represent Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The Lamb of God has seven horns and sevens eyes which are the seven spirts of God sent out into the whole world. The seven spirits could refer to the seven archangels in 1^st Enoch who are "watching" creation:

1) Uriel (God is light)

2) Raphael (God heals)

3) Raguel (Friend of God)

4) Michael (Who is like God)

5) Sarakiel (God’s Prince)

6) Gabriel (God is strength)

7) Ramiel (Thunder of God)

Alternatively the seven spirits could be the seven graces:

1) Insight (prophecy)

2) Helpfulness (service or ministry)

3) Instruction (teaching)

4) Encouragement

5) Generosity (giving)

6) Guidance (leadership)

7) Compassion.

Zechariah 4:1-5

Fourth Vision: The Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees

Lampstand: receptacle for lamps and one of the furnishings of the main room of the Temple. This visionary object does not correspond to the biblical descriptions of the menorah in either the tabernacle (Ex 25:31–40) or the Solomonic Temple (1 Kgs 7:49) but rather has properties of both. Seven lamps…seven spouts: seven lamps, each with seven pinched wick holes. Such objects were part of the repertoire of cultic vessels throughout the Old Testament period. Here they symbolize God’s eyes, i.e., divine omniscience. The golden lampstand may represent Christ, gold being the purest and noblest of the metals.

Olive trees: visionary image that picks up the botanical language describing the Israelite cultic lampstands, with the olive trees specifically connoting fertility, permanence, and righteousness.

Zechariah 4:6-10a

Oracle to Zerubbabel

“Not by might…but by my spirit” is one of the most quoted verses from the Old Testament, particularly in Jewish tradition, which connects it with the theme of Hanukkah, sometimes called the Festival of Lights.

The term great mountain is part of symbolic imagery for the Temple on Mount Zion, as embodiment of the cosmic mountain where heaven and earth connect. The term plain is leveled ground serving as the foundation area for the construction of the Temple, and symbolizing the foundation of the cosmos. The term first stone is the foundation stone of a major public building. Such stones were laid with great ceremony in foundation rituals when monumental buildings were newly built or rebuilt in the biblical world. St. Paul calls Christ our corner stone in Ephesians 2:19-22.

Capstone is the topmost stone of a structure, which finishes the construction. This translation is based on the context. Other translations read: “stone of distinction,” “plummet,” and “tin-stone.”

Zechariah 4:10b-14

Resumption of the Fourth Vision: Explanation of Lamps and Trees

Revelation 11:1-14

Two Witnesses

The two olive trees are the two anointed ones. At the time of Zechariah’s writing, they would be Joshua the High Priest (the religious authority) and Zerubbabel the governor (the political authority). Christ would later personify this as High Priest and King. These anointed ones could also refer to the two witnesses who prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, wearing sackcloth. We do not know from Zechariah and Revelation whether they represent:

1) Enoch and Elijah (who were assumed bodily into heaven prior to death)

2) Moses and Elijah (who were at the Transfiguration of our Blessed Lord)

3) The Law and the Prophets (which Jesus came to fulfill)

4) Saints Peter and Paul (the first Pope and the great New Testament expositor of the Faith).

5) High Priest Aaron and political leader Moses

6) The Davidic and Levitical Messiah