Thank you. I'm very grateful for this opportunity to share with you the consolation that I find in the book of Revelation.

Consolation might be the last word you would ordinarily associate with the book of Revelation.

And yet it is exactly what the Holy Spirit intends to give us through this last book of the Bible.

The reflections which I'm about to share with you rely heavily on a commentary by the German New Testament scholar

and later Bishop of Fulda, Edward Schick. He gives us a thoroughly Catholic perspective on the book of Revelation that yields powerful insights into the present situation of both the Church and the world.

The Book of Revelation was given to the Church at a time of great persecution, that is, towards the end of the first century, when the Roman

emperors had declared themselves divine, and all the subjects of the Roman Empire had the

choice between either worshipping the emperor's image or being put to death.

It was clear to the Christians that emperor worship was idle worship

and would constitute a direct breach of the First Commandment.

Many of the early Christians preferred death to apostasy

and shed their blood and faithful

witness to Jesus Christ.

Yet, the whole situation of death and suffering was, of course, very confusing to the

Christians.

Why, one can imagine them asking, and honestly we're still asking the same question today,

why is it that the evil one still has so much power over the world if, as we confess,

Jesus has overcome sin, death, and Satan through his own death and resurrection?

The monstrosity of evil that purdures in the world history constitutes an enormous temptation for the faithful of every generation

to doubt that God is really all-powerful, all-knowing and all-loving.

Why does he permit so much evil and suffering?

In response, God has given us the precious book of Revelation. It constitutes an antidote to the temptation to confusion and doubt.

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