26 November 2026 · Latin Rite
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“Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21:28
Jesus speaks of Jerusalem surrounded by armies (fulfilled in AD 70) and then of cosmic signs: sun, moon and stars shaken, nations in distress, people fainting with fear. In the middle of it he gives an unexpected command: “stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” What makes others faint makes disciples look up. The coming of the Son of Man “with power and great glory” is not a threat to those who love him; it is their liberation.
Revelation tells the same story in two images. Babylon, the proud city of luxury, idolatry and oppression, falls: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!” And a wedding is announced: “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Every empire built on pride ends in ruins; the Bride of the Lamb is invited to a feast. At every Mass the priest echoes this verse before Communion: “Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.”
Theme: “Raise your heads.”
When the world shakes, disciples look up: Babylon falls, and the Lamb's wedding feast is near.
“It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isaiah 25:9
“Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21:27–28
Apply: Pray a prayer of trust when you hear bad news.
“Then he responded, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the images of her gods lie shattered on the ground.”” Isaiah 21:9
“He called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!”” Revelation 18:2
Apply: Renounce one luxury this Advent and give its cost to the poor.
“On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.” Isaiah 25:6
“And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”” Revelation 19:9
Apply: Prepare carefully for Communion this Sunday.
Look up: your redemption is near.
The feast is ready; come.
Take-home resolution: Make a good Confession before Advent begins.
Dear friends, Jesus speaks of Jerusalem surrounded by armies, fulfilled in the year 70, and then of signs in the sun, the moon and the stars, nations in distress, people fainting from fear. And in the middle of it all he gives an unexpected command: stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near (Luke 21:28).
What makes others faint makes disciples look up. The coming of the Son of Man in power and great glory is not a threat to those who love him; it is their liberation. We are not people of fear but of hope.
Revelation tells the same story in two pictures. Babylon, the proud city of luxury, idolatry and oppression, falls: fallen, fallen is Babylon the great (Revelation 18:2). And a wedding is announced: blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9). Every empire built on pride ends in ruins; the Bride of the Lamb is invited to a feast.
At every Mass, before Communion, the priest echoes this invitation. Let us prepare for that supper with care this Sunday: a moment of silence before Mass, and, if we need it, a good confession before Advent begins. Amen.
Children, Jesus says: when you hear bad news, look up, because I am near! Before Communion on Sunday, close your eyes and tell Jesus you are happy he is coming.
Lord Jesus, when the world shakes, let me stand up and raise my head, for my redemption is near. Free me from the pride of Babylon, and make me ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb. Amen.
Two cities fall today. In Revelation, Babylon the great, the city of pride and trade and cruelty, is thrown down like a millstone into the sea, and heaven sings Hallelujah, while the faithful are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. In Luke, Jesus foretells with grief the siege of Jerusalem, and then lifts the disciples' eyes: when the powers of heaven are shaken, “stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near”.
Setting.
“Babylon” in Revelation is a code name for Rome (compare 1 Peter 5:13), the city on seven hills (17:9), rich through trade and drunk with the blood of the saints (17:6). But the name also stands for every power in history that sets itself up against God. Chapter 18 is a lament over its fall, built from the prophets' oracles against Babylon and Tyre (Isaiah 21:9; Jeremiah 50–51; Ezekiel 26–27). Chapter 19 answers with heaven's song of praise.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!” (18:2)
The cry of Isaiah 21:9. It is spoken in the past tense, as if already done: in God's sight, every proud empire has already fallen.
“Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea,” (18:21)
Jeremiah had told Seraiah to tie a stone to his scroll and throw it into the Euphrates as a sign of Babylon's fall (Jeremiah 51:63–64).
“and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more;” (18:23)
Words from Jeremiah 7:34 and 25:10. A civilisation that serves greed in the end loses even its joy.
“Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power to our God,” (19:1)
“Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” (19:9)
The fourth of the seven beatitudes of Revelation.
How the Church reads it.
At every Mass the priest, showing the Host, says: “Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.” The Eucharist is a foretaste of the wedding feast at the end of time. St Augustine's City of God contrasts the two cities formed by two loves: love of self to the contempt of God, and love of God to the contempt of self (in substance).
Setting.
Luke speaks more plainly than Mark about Jerusalem “surrounded by armies”. In AD 70 the Roman legions besieged the city and destroyed it with great loss of life. The historian Eusebius records that the Christians of Jerusalem, warned beforehand, left the city and went to Pella beyond the Jordan.
Jesus does not speak of these events with any satisfaction. In Luke he weeps over Jerusalem (19:41–44). The “wrath against this people” describes the horror of a war, not a judgment on the Jewish people as such; the Church firmly rejects any such reading (Nostra Aetate 4; CCC 597).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near.” (21:20)
“Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory.” (21:27)
The quotation marks show that Jesus is citing Daniel 7:13. The same Son of Man who will be condemned within days will come as judge.
“Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (21:28)
Others faint with fear (v. 26); disciples stand straight. This verse returns as the Gospel of the First Sunday of Advent in Year C.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that the glorious coming of the Messiah is linked in God's plan to the recognition of Christ by all Israel, quoting St Paul's hope in Romans 11 (CCC 674). It also teaches that Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead (CCC 678–679). The disciple's posture before the end is not cringing fear but upright hope.
Does “wrath against this people” mean God rejected the Jewish people?
No. The Church teaches that the Jewish people are not to be presented as rejected or accursed by God, and that “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29; Nostra Aetate 4; CCC 839). Jesus speaks as a prophet grieving over a coming war, as Jeremiah once grieved over Jerusalem.