My Two Witnesses

Revelation: Two witnesses, two trees, two sources of confusion

revelation: ἀπό (lift the … ) - from; καλύπτω veil or covering = the uncovering/unveiling ≅ revelation

Moses & Elijah: the 2 witnesses, 2 trees

connect Christians to OT Faith & traditions

& serve to guide & instruct them.

Two witnesses

For valid legal testimony, <You shall not convict someone except on the testimony of 2 witnesses.>

"those who dwell on the earth”

English Standard Version Catholic Edition (n.p.: Augustine Institute, 2019), Re 11:10."*

i.e. ”The earthly" vs "the heavenly" - Christians.

Gospel: The widow married seven times:

"The sons of the resurrection":

neither marry not are given in marriage

not do they die

for they are risen to a new life.

neither shall they die any more:

36. neither shall they die any more: As “sons of God” and “sons of the resurrection,” they will be free; the risen life of Jesus brings them the life that makes them perpetually sons of God.

Raymond Edward Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland Edmund Murphy, The Jerome Biblical Commentary (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1996), 154.

Though strange and terrible things may come, the faithful are confident of victory in Christ.

Rev 11:1–14 exemplifies through the two witnesses what it means for followers of Jesus to remain faithful while chaos drives history to its ultimate end (cf. Beasley-Murray 1978: 168) Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible, Re 10:1–11:14, p 1552

Jesus has won the decisive victory over the oldest and darkest enemy of all, and if we are ‘in him’, ‘in the king’, ‘in Christ’, we shall discover step by step what that means.

N. T. Wright

(humorously)

Orthodoxy (Chapter II—The Maniac)

Everywhere we see that men do not go mad by dreaming. Critics are much madder than poets. Homer is complete and calm enough; it is his critics who tear him into extravagant tatters. Shakespeare is quite himself; it is only some of his critics who have discovered that he was somebody else. And though St. John the Evangelist saw many strange monsters in his vision, he saw no creature so wild as one of his own commentators.

José Ramón Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez —

might be accused of insanity for continuing to defy Mexican authorities and their anti-Catholic laws, believers know that

Jesus has won the decisive victory over the oldest and darkest enemy of all, and if we are ‘in him’, ‘in the king’, ‘in Christ’, we shall discover step by step what that means.

¡Viva Cristo Rey! —his last words after praying for, and pardoning his executioners.

The Church honors him today for his unwavering trust in God, for remaining faithful to his vocation and its mission in the world.