Everyone’s Apocalypse attempts to respond to the request of Dei Verbum 22 that “Easy access to Sacred Scripture should be provided for all the faithful.” In this easy-to-read introduction for beginners, modern scholarship and the Church’s tradition meet to help readers understand and pray through this demanding part of God’s Word.
Following Ugo Vanni’s proved structure, the two parts of the Apocalypse (chapters 1–3 and 4–22) are presented in seven chapters. The opening two chapters show John’s vision of the Risen Jesus as Son of Man and his words to the seven churches of Asia Minor. Chapter three presents the vital section, full of worship, of the throne vision of God as creator and of Jesus, slaughtered and risen, as redeemer. The opening of the seven seals by the Lamb, the four horsemen, the Risen Jesus, the destruction wrought by the seven trumpets, the three signs of the Woman, the Dragon, and the seven angels with the seven bowls of wrath are dealt with in the next three chapters. The final chapter outlines the climax of the book. Harlot Babylon, the evil city, is judged and falls and, following the intervention of the bridegroom Lamb and the removal of God’s enemies, the marriage of the Lamb reaches its fulfillment when the prepared wife becomes the possessed bride. In the imagery of this text, the kingdom has come.
Uniquely, this book reads the entire Apocalypse in a nuptial manner. This is a love story. Jesus, the lover, following the pattern of Jewish marriage in the first century, helps his espoused wife, the seven churches, to persevere in their nuptial response of love to him, their first love. After coming through the tribulation, they finally become his beloved, possessed Bride, filled with glory. This eschatological union of love is humankind’s destiny.
Fr. Donal McIlraith, SSL, STD, is a Columban missionary from Macroom, Ireland. He has taught in seminaries in St. Paul, MN; New York; Philadelphia; Sydney; and Suva, Fiji, where he currently teaches for the Pacific Regional Seminary. His doctoral thesis at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome treated “The Reciprocal Love between Christ and the Church in the Apocalypse,” and was directed by Apocalypse commentator Ugo Vanni, SJ.