Bible in a Year with Fr Paul

Day 365 - Revelation 20-22

What, then, brothers, ought we to do? Should we grow slack in doing good and give up love? May the Lord never permit this to happen at any rate to us! Rather, should we be energetic in doing “every good deed” [Tit 3:1.] with earnestness and eagerness.… The good laborer accepts the bread he has earned with his head held high; the lazy and negligent workman cannot look his employer in the face. We must, then, be eager to do good; for everything comes from him. For he warns us, “See, the Lord is coming. He is bringing his reward with him, to pay each one according to his work.” He bids us, therefore, to believe on him with all our heart and not to be slack or negligent in “every good deed.” He should be the basis of our boasting and assurance. We should be subject to his will. We should note how the whole throng of his angels stand ready to serve his will. For the Scripture says, “Ten thousand times ten thousand stood by him, and thousands of thousands ministered to him and cried out: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts: all creation is full of his glory.” [Isa 6:3.] We too, then, should gather together for worship in concord and mutual trust and earnestly beseech him as it were with one mouth, that we may share in his great and glorious promises. For he says, “Eye has not seen and ear has not heard and human heart has not conceived what he has prepared for those who patiently wait for him.”—St Clement of Rome

Day 364 - Revelation 17-19

Later, when the seer is commanded to behold the wife of the Lamb, he sees the holy city coming down from heaven, and he says concerning her, “The kings of the earth carried their glory into her.” [Rev 21:24.] For in the world there are two cities, one that arises from the abyss and the other that comes down from heaven. And so now he compares the same ungodliness, which he had described in the form of a harlot made naked and burned up, with the ruins of a deserted city—The Venerable Bede

Day 363 - Revelation 13-16

Since then in this world some persons come to the light, and by faith unite themselves to the light and by faith unite themselves with God, but others shun the light and separate themselves from God, the Word of God comes preparing a fit habitation for both. For those indeed who are in the light, that they may derive enjoyment from it and from the good things contained in it; but for those in darkness, that they may partake in its calamities.… For this reason the apostle says, “Because they did not receive the love of God, that they might be saved, therefore God shall also send them the operation of error, that they may believe a lie, that they all may be judged who have not believed the truth, but consented to unrighteousness.” [2Th 2:10-12.] For when [antichrist] arrives, and of his own accord concentrates in his own person the apostasy, and accomplishes whatever he shall do according to his own will and choice, sitting also in the temple of God, his dupes will adore him as the Christ. Therefore he shall deservedly “be cast into the lake of fire,” [Rev 19:20.] [and this will happen according to divine appointment], God by his prescience, foreseeing all this at the proper time sending such a man, “that they may believe a lie, that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but consented to unrighteousness.”—St Irenaeus of Lyon

Day 362 - Revelation 10-12

He indicates that when he ate the book sweetness would be mixed with bitterness. That is to say, that when he is released from exile, he was to preach the gospel to the nations. This would be a sweet task as regards love, but it would be a bitter work on account of the persecutions that he would endure—The Venerable Bede

Day 361 - Revelation 6-9

With a loud voice [the martyrs] sing of salvation from God, since they recall with great thanksgiving that they have triumphed, not by their own virtue but by his help, in the struggle with the tribulations assailing them—The Venerable Bede