Facing East

Watching for Jesus the Son with his healing rays

11/19/2020

Revelation 5:1-10 I, John, saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who sat on the throne. It had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a mighty angel who proclaimed in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to examine it. I shed many tears because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to examine it. One of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed, enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals.” Then I saw standing in the midst of the throne
and the four living creatures and the elders a Lamb that seemed to have been slain. He had seven horns and seven eyes; these are the seven spirits of God sent out into the whole world. He came and received the scroll from the right hand of the one who sat on the throne. When he took it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones. They sang a new hymn: “Worthy are you to receive the scroll and break open its seals, for you were slain and with your Blood you purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests for our God, and they will reign on earth.”

Yesterday was such a beautiful day, I decided to go for a walk and pray my rosary. My feet found their way to Calvary Cemetery, my favorite place to pray and walk. It is full of people and yet not one wants to talk to me – it’s very quiet and meditative. Have you heard the old joke about why they had to build a fence around the cemetery? Well, people were just dying to get inside. A funeral home director told me that years ago.

As I walked around the cemetery, the sun was setting in the west and I noticed something peculiar about all the headstones. They were all facing one direction. Can you guess which direction they were facing? They were facing east, and the headstones were casting longer shadows as the sun was setting. But do you know why they are facing east? East is the direction of the sunrise every morning. Why is that significant? We Christians believe that Jesus will return at the end of time, his Second Coming, like the eternal Sunrise, the Sun that will never set.

St. Jerome is quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church with this eloquent explanation of the importance of Sunday, and facing east. The great 5th century scripture scholar wrote: “The Lord’s day, the day of Resurrection, the day of Christians, is our day. It is called the Lord’s day because on it the Lord rose victorious to the Father.” Now here’s my favorite part of the quotation: “If pagans call it the ‘day of the sun,’ we willingly agree, for today the light of the world is raised, today is revealed the sun of justice with healing in his rays’” (Catechism, 1166). In other words, Jesus’ rising on the third day after he died, on Sunday, is why Christians celebrate Sunday more than Saturday, the Sabbath. Sunday is the first day of the new creation; Sunday we step into heaven.

I also noticed something else peculiar about the cemetery: the way people are planted in the cemetery is a lot like how parishioners are planted in their pews every Sunday, and whenever they come to Mass. For example, what direction are you all facing as you sit in church right now? You are all facing east, toward Jesus, the rising Sun coming “with healing in his rays.” And just like in the cemetery people have their particular plots (chosen carefully before they passed), where they like to sit and God help you if you try to take anyone’s plot, so too, in church. I have heard of arguments and fights over pews in church – not here, of course, in other crazy parishes. And like at Calvary where there was a special section for the Sisters of Mercy, so we had reserved rows here in church where the sisters sat.

My point in pointing out these similarities is to suggest that what the dead are doing in the cemetery is what the living are doing at Mass (you and me), and furthermore, it is what the angels and the saints are doing forever in heaven. In a word, it is called the “eternal liturgy.” Have you ever wondered what you will be doing for eternity in heaven: you will be doing to Mass. Scott Hahn offered that this is the rationale behind the book of Revelation. He said: “Remember that Israel’s tradition always had men worshiping in imitation of the angels. Now, as Revelation shows, both heaven and earth participate together in a single act of loving worship” (The Lamb’s Supper). All three levels or stages of the Church’s existence worship the Sun “with his healing rays” – the Church triumphant in heavenly glory (angels and saints), the Church suffering in purgatory (the people at Calvary cemetery), and the Church militant fighting sin and Satan (me and you). We all face east – both in time and eternity – to worship the Son with “healing in his rays.”

In the first reading today from Revelation 5:1-10, the Lamb breaks open the seals to reveal what is written on the scroll. The scroll is the Sacred Scriptures and the Lamb is of course Jesus, whose death and resurrection (on the Lord’s Day, Sunday) reveals all the mysteries of heaven and earth. When priests and deacons and bishops stand in this ambo and read the gospel at Mass and preach the homily, we carry out and continue the work of the Lamb to break open the seals and reveal the mysteries of heaven and earth. In other words, what happens here at Mass every day, especially every Sunday, is what is happening for those people planted at Calvary Cemetery, and what is happening eternally for the blessed souls in heaven. In a word, we are all at Mass. So, you better get used to coming to Church.

Praised be Jesus Christ!