Today’s first reading from Revelation once again offers us powerful imagery to take to prayer. Through the text, are invited to imagine the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne of God, as scrolls are opened and the dead are judged according to their deeds, by what is written in the scrolls. It is an image that can perhaps frighten: all our deeds made plain, the good together with the bad. In such an account, there is none of us, save the Mother of God, who will not be found wanting before God. This reality of our situation before God is humbling and worth pondering.
But it is not the last image we ought to consider. For the final fate of the dead in this vision from Revelation is dependent on the contents of a different scroll, the book of life. It is those whose names are written in this book of life who will enter the holy city, the new Jerusalem. And if our names are written in this book of life, it is ultimately due to God’s free and merciful gift.
Let us bring these two images to prayer, then: the image of the general resurrection, where all will be revealed, and the image of the book of life. And let us confidently entrust ourselves to the merciful love of God, asking that our names might be written in the book of life on the last day.