You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today have an air of disappointment and perhaps despair that the Promise of the Covenant and the Free Gift of intimacy are being ignored or rejected by the people for whom it was attended. John’s vision in the Book of Revelation questions how the gift will be distributed without a worthy entity to be the instrument of God’s gracious providence. The Lamb or Christ is found worthy to be the agent of intimacy with the Divine through complete adherence to the will of the Father that all barriers be destroyed between Creator and creatures. The psalmist is in praise of the joy given to the assembly of the faithful who continue to live in the Promise of the Divine. Luke shares Jesus concern that the destruction of Jerusalem will be the marker of a people who failed to appreciate the invitation to life from God.