I Have a Revelation!

I was using a workout video recently, when the man who was hosting the video made a comment that struck me in a peculiar way.  He was commenting on the importance of doing the exercises you don’t particularly enjoy doing, and why it’s important that you do them anyway.  He claims that if you want to change your body, you can’t just do the exercises that feel good.  You have to work hard at the ones you don’t enjoy, because then you will become strong at that thing, and you will then enjoy it more.  If you want to change your body, you have to do the exercises that are difficult for you to do.  All I have to say is that it always amazes me how working out our body and working out your spiritual life parallel each other.  This truth pertains not just to the body, but to the soul. 

My experience of scripture reading has been this:  I read the stuff I enjoy.  Personally, I enjoy reading the Book of Genesis.  I understand it.  I have read it many times.  It’s actually fun for me to read because there is so much depth.  When I notice something new, I get excited!  And I’m always discovering something new in Genesis!  I also love the Gospel of Matthew, again, because it’s easy for me.  However, one book that I have avoided like the plague is the Book of Revelation.  Every time I have ever picked it up, I have wanted to throw it away after only a few passages, exclaiming, “I’ll never get it!  What’s the point?”  Well, the point is that if you want to change your soul, you have to do the workouts that are difficult, maybe even painful, to see change.  And, I’m promised, and I believe, that the difficult work will become easy, and even enjoyable, after a time.  Therefore, it is with prayer, the Holy Spirit, and my Catechism that I embark on the journey to not only read, but to understand, the Book of Revelation.

Let’s begin this journey in prayer, shall we? 

Holy Spirit, guide my heart, my mind, and my attention, on your Sacred Scripture.  Help me, please, to understand what important messages you want me to understand.  Help me to see how good this book of Scripture is, and how enjoyable it can be, if that enjoyment leads me to find joy in You.  Thank You!  Amen!