Thoughts and Reflection
Today we read about in Revelation a vision of the Ark of the Covenant. In this vision, there was a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. This woman represents the last three things: Israel, the Church, and Mary, mother of Jesus.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is described the same way as the vision in Revelation.
In Hebrews, we read that Jesus is far superior to the angels. The angels worship him. This highlights that Jesus and the Father share the same divine nature.
About This Project
For the year 2022, I decided that my New Year’s Resolution was to read the whole Bible following the Bible in the Year plan presented by Fr. Mike Schmitz. It is a big and bold undertaking. You can follow along by subscribing. Feel free to look at previous day’s post and comment. It’s something we can all learn from together!
Daily Readings
Revelation 12
1 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, robed with the sun, standing on the moon, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
2 She was pregnant, and in labour, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth.
3 Then a second sign appeared in the sky: there was a huge red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and each of the seven heads crowned with a coronet.
4 Its tail swept a third of the stars from the sky and hurled them to the ground, and the dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was at the point of giving birth, so that it could eat the child as soon as it was born.
5 The woman was delivered of a boy, the son who was to rule all the nations with an iron sceptre, and the child was taken straight up to God and to his throne,
6 while the woman escaped into the desert, where God had prepared a place for her to be looked after for twelve hundred and sixty days.
7 And now war broke out in heaven, when Michael with his angels attacked the dragon. The dragon fought back with his angels,
8 but they were defeated and driven out of heaven.
9 The great dragon, the primeval serpent, known as the devil or Satan, who had led all the world astray, was hurled down to the earth and his angels were hurled down with him.
10 Then I heard a voice shout from heaven, ‘Salvation and power and empire for ever have been won by our God, and all authority for his Christ, now that the accuser, who accused our brothers day and night before our God, has been brought down.
11 They have triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word to which they bore witness, because even in the face of death they did not cling to life.
12 So let the heavens rejoice and all who live there; but for you, earth and sea, disaster is coming — because the devil has gone down to you in a rage, knowing that he has little time left.’
13 As soon as the dragon found himself hurled down to the earth, he sprang in pursuit of the woman, the mother of the male child,
14 but she was given a pair of the great eagle’s wings to fly away from the serpent into the desert, to the place where she was to be looked after for a time, two times and half a time.
15 So the serpent vomited water from his mouth, like a river, after the woman, to sweep her away in the current,
16 but the earth came to her rescue; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river spewed from the dragon’s mouth.
17 Then the dragon was enraged with the woman and went away to make war on the rest of her children, who obey God’s commandments and have in themselves the witness of Jesus.
18 And I took my stand on the seashore.
Revelation 13
1 Then I saw a beast emerge from the sea: it had seven heads and ten horns, with a coronet on each of its ten horns, and its heads were marked with blasphemous titles.
2 I saw that the beast was like a leopard, with paws like a bear and a mouth like a lion; the dragon had handed over to it his own power and his throne and his immense authority.
3 I saw that one of its heads seemed to have had a fatal wound but that this deadly injury had healed and the whole world had marvelled and followed the beast.
4 They prostrated themselves in front of the dragon because he had given the beast his authority; and they prostrated themselves in front of the beast, saying, ‘Who can compare with the beast? Who can fight against it?’
5 The beast was allowed to mouth its boasts and blasphemies and to be active for forty-two months;
6 and it mouthed its blasphemies against God, against his name, his heavenly Tent and all those who are sheltered there.
7 It was allowed to make war against the saints and conquer them, and given power over every race, people, language and nation;
8 and all people of the world will worship it, that is, everybody whose name has not been written down since the foundation of the world in the sacrificial Lamb’s book of life.
9 Let anyone who can hear, listen:
10 Those for captivity to captivity; those for death by the sword to death by the sword. This is why the saints must have perseverance and faith.
11 Then I saw a second beast, emerging from the ground; it had two horns like a lamb, but made a noise like a dragon.
12 This second beast exercised all the power of the first beast, on its behalf making the world and all its people worship the first beast, whose deadly injury had healed.
13 And it worked great miracles, even to calling down fire from heaven onto the earth while people watched.
14 Through the miracles which it was allowed to do on behalf of the first beast, it was able to lead astray the people of the world and persuade them to put up a statue in honour of the beast that had been wounded by the sword and still lived.
15 It was allowed to breathe life into this statue, so that the statue of the beast was able to speak, and to have anyone who refused to worship the statue of the beast put to death.
16 It compelled everyone — small and great alike, rich and poor, slave and citizen — to be branded on the right hand or on the forehead,
17 and made it illegal for anyone to buy or sell anything unless he had been branded with the name of the beast or with the number of its name.
18 There is need for shrewdness here: anyone clever may interpret the number of the beast: it is the number of a human being, the number 666.
Revelation 14
1 Next in my vision I saw Mount Zion, and standing on it the Lamb who had with him a hundred and forty-four thousand people, all with his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
2 I heard a sound coming out of heaven like the sound of the ocean or the roar of thunder; it was like the sound of harpists playing their harps.
3 There before the throne they were singing a new hymn in the presence of the four living creatures and the elders, a hymn that could be learnt only by the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the world.
4 These are the sons who have kept their virginity and not been defiled with women; they follow the Lamb wherever he goes; they, out of all people, have been redeemed to be the first-fruits for God and for the Lamb.
5 No lie was found in their mouths and no fault can be found in them.
6 Then I saw another angel, flying high overhead, sent to announce the gospel of eternity to all who live on the earth, every nation, race, language and tribe.
7 He was calling, ‘Fear God and glorify him, because the time has come for him to sit in judgement; worship the maker of heaven and earth and sea and the springs of water.’
8 A second angel followed him, calling, ‘Babylon has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen, Babylon which gave the whole world the wine of retribution to drink.’
9 A third angel followed, shouting aloud, ‘All those who worship the beast and his statue, or have had themselves branded on the hand or forehead,
10 will be made to drink the wine of God’s fury which is ready, undiluted, in his cup of retribution; in fire and brimstone they will be tortured in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb
11 and the smoke of their torture will rise for ever and ever. There will be no respite, night or day, for those who worship the beast or its statue or accept branding with its name.’
12 This is why there must be perseverance in the saints who keep the commandments of God and faith in Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say to me, ‘Write down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord! Blessed indeed, the Spirit says; now they can rest for ever after their work, since their good deeds go with them.’
14 Now in my vision I saw a white cloud and, sitting on it, one like a son of man with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.
15 Then another angel came out of the sanctuary and shouted at the top of his voice to the one sitting on the cloud, ‘Ply your sickle and reap: harvest time has come and the harvest of the earth is ripe.’
16 Then the one sitting on the cloud set his sickle to work on the earth, and the harvest of earth was reaped.
17 Another angel, who also carried a sharp sickle, came out of the temple in heaven,
18 and the angel in charge of the fire left the altar and shouted at the top of his voice to the one with the sharp sickle, ‘Put your sickle in, and harvest the bunches from the vine of the earth; all its grapes are ripe.’
19 So the angel set his sickle to work on the earth and harvested the whole vintage of the earth and put it into a huge winepress, the winepress of God’s anger,
20 outside the city, where it was trodden until the blood that came out of the winepress was up to the horses’ bridles as far away as sixteen hundred furlongs.
Hebrews 1
1 At many moments in the past and by many means, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but
2 in our time, the final days, he has spoken to us in the person of his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the ages.
3 He is the reflection of God’s glory and bears the impress of God’s own being, sustaining all things by his powerful command; and now that he has purged sins away, he has taken his seat at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high.
4 So he is now as far above the angels as the title which he has inherited is higher than their own name.
5 To which of the angels, then, has God ever said: You are my Son, today I have fathered you, or: I shall be a father to him and he a son to me?
6 Again, when he brings the First-born into the world, he says: Let all the angels of God pay him homage.
7 To the angels, he says: appointing the winds his messengers and flames of fire his servants,
8 but to the Son he says: Your throne, God, is for ever and ever; and: the sceptre of his kingdom is a sceptre of justice;
9 you love uprightness and detest evil. This is why God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness, as none of your rivals.
10 And again: Long ago, Lord, you laid earth’s foundations, the heavens are the work of your hands.
11 They pass away but you remain, they all wear out like a garment.
12 Like a cloak you will roll them up, like a garment, and they will be changed. But you never alter and your years are unending.
13 To which of the angels has God ever said: Take your seat at my right hand till I have made your enemies your footstool?
14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
Hebrews 2
1 We ought, then, to turn our minds more attentively than before to what we have been taught, so that we do not drift away.
2 If a message that was spoken through angels proved to be so reliable that every infringement and disobedience brought its own proper punishment,
3 then we shall certainly not go unpunished if we neglect such a great salvation. It was first announced by the Lord himself, and is guaranteed to us by those who heard him;
4 God himself confirmed their witness with signs and marvels and miracles of all kinds, and by distributing the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the various ways he wills.
5 It was not under angels that he put the world to come, about which we are speaking.
6 Someone witnesses to this somewhere with the words: What are human beings that you spare a thought for them, a child of Adam that you care for him?
7 For a short while you have made him less than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honour,
8 put all things under his feet. For in putting all things under him he made no exceptions. At present, it is true, we are not able to see that all things are under him,
9 but we do see Jesus, who was for a short while made less than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he submitted to death; so that by God’s grace his experience of death should benefit all humanity.
10 It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should, in bringing many sons to glory, make perfect through suffering the leader of their salvation.
11 For consecrator and consecrated are all of the same stock; that is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers
12 in the text: I shall proclaim your name to my brothers, praise you in full assembly; or in the text:
13 I shall put my hope in him; followed by Look, I and the children whom God has given me.
14 Since all the children share the same human nature, he too shared equally in it, so that by his death he could set aside him who held the power of death, namely the devil,
15 and set free all those who had been held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.
16 For it was not the angels that he took to himself; he took to himself the line of Abraham.
17 It was essential that he should in this way be made completely like his brothers so that he could become a compassionate and trustworthy high priest for their relationship to God, able to expiate the sins of the people.
18 For the suffering he himself passed through while being put to the test enables him to help others when they are being put to the test.
Hebrews 3
1 That is why all you who are holy brothers and share the same heavenly call should turn your minds to Jesus, the apostle and the high priest of our profession of faith.
2 He was trustworthy to the one who appointed him, just like Moses, who remained trustworthy in all his household;
3 but he deserves a greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house is more honoured than the house itself.
4 Every house is built by someone, of course; but God built everything that exists.
5 It is true that Moses was trustworthy in the household of God, as a servant is, acting as witness to the things which were yet to be revealed,
6 but Christ is trustworthy as a son is, over his household. And we are his household, as long as we fearlessly maintain the hope in which we glory.
7 That is why, as the Holy Spirit says: If only you would listen to him today!
8 Do not harden your hearts, as at the rebellion, as at the time of testing in the desert,
9 when your ancestors challenged me, and put me to the test, and saw what I could do
10 for forty years. That was why that generation sickened me and I said, ‘Always fickle hearts, that cannot grasp my ways!’
11 And then in my anger I swore that they would never enter my place of rest.
12 Take care, brothers, that none of you ever has a wicked heart, so unbelieving as to turn away from the living God.
13 Every day, as long as this today lasts, keep encouraging one another so that none of you is hardened by the lure of sin,
14 because we have been granted a share with Christ only if we keep the grasp of our first confidence firm to the end.
15 In this saying: If only you would listen to him today; do not harden your hearts, as at the Rebellion,
16 who was it who listened and then rebelled? Surely all those whom Moses led out of Egypt.
17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Surely with those who sinned and whose dead bodies fell in the desert.
18 To whom did he swear they would never enter his place of rest? Surely those who would not believe.
19 So we see that it was their refusal to believe which prevented them from entering.
Hebrews 4
1 Let us beware, then: since the promise never lapses, none of you must think that he has come too late for the promise of entering his place of rest.
2 We received the gospel exactly as they did; but hearing the message did them no good because they did not share the faith of those who did listen.
3 We, however, who have faith, are entering a place of rest, as in the text: And then in my anger I swore that they would never enter my place of rest. Now God’s work was all finished at the beginning of the world;
4 as one text says, referring to the seventh day: And God rested on the seventh day after all the work he had been doing.
5 And, again, the passage above says: They will never reach my place of rest.
6 It remains the case, then, that there would be some people who would reach it, and since those who first heard the good news were prevented from entering by their refusal to believe,
7 God fixed another day, a Today, when he said through David in the text already quoted: If only you would listen to him today; do not harden your hearts.
8 If Joshua had led them into this place of rest, God would not later have spoken of another day.
9 There must still be, therefore, a seventh-day rest reserved for God’s people,
10 since to enter the place of rest is to rest after your work, as God did after his.
11 Let us, then, press forward to enter this place of rest, or some of you might copy this example of refusal to believe and be lost.
12 The word of God is something alive and active: it cuts more incisively than any two-edged sword: it can seek out the place where soulis divided from spirit, or joints from marrow; it can pass judgement on secret emotions and thoughts.
13 No created thing is hidden from him; everything is uncovered and stretched fully open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give account of ourselves.
14 Since in Jesus, the Son of God, we have the supreme high priest who has gone through to the highest heaven, we must hold firm to our profession of faith.
15 For the high priest we have is not incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us, but has been put to the test in exactly the same way as ourselves, apart from sin.
16 Let us, then, have no fear in approaching the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace when we are in need of help.
Proverbs 31:19-22
19 She sets her hands to the distaff, her fingers grasp the spindle.
20 She holds out her hands to the poor, she opens her arms to the needy.
21 Snow may come, she has no fears for her household, with all her servants warmly clothed.
22 She makes her own quilts, she is dressed in fine linen and purple.
