The word Apocalypse derives from the Greek verb apokaluptō, which means to remove that which covers something, thus to uncover, or figuratively to unveil, also in the sense that something that is hidden is uncovered. We find it explicitly in this sense in the words of Jesus, who says: “Whatever has been hidden will be uncovered, whatever is secret will be known; what I tell you in the darkness, tell it in the light.” (Matthew 10:26-27). Indeed, there is something that does appear, that which lies in the human heart, the life of the spirit. Psalm 54:22 tells us, for example, “though their mouth is smoother than butter, enmity is in their hearts; their words more soothing than oil, yet sharpened like swords.” The most important thing in our lives is the spirit, which is also our vital breath. What’s important is not only what we do, our actions, but also in what spirit we do them, why: in a spirit of love or rivalry? of generosity or self-interest?
It’s hard for us to grasp the reality of the mind. The spirit, which is immaterial, transcends, surpasses, the corporeal limits of space and time; it cannot be confined to a place, nor can it perish and corrupt over time. Jesus reminds us: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” (Matthew 10:28). God is spirit, immortal, eternal, and he created us in his image and resemblance, putting his vital breath inside us, his spirit that gives us life and animates our bodies. God also created angels, purely spiritual creatures.
The whole Bible tries to tell us about, and help us understand, the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven, where all creatures experience their complementarity as a source of joy and admiration for God’s work in each of them. In the Kingdom of Heaven, spiritual reality is manifested in all its splendor, glory and beauty, where we can contemplate in each one a reflection of God’s beauty and goodness, spread throughout his creatures. (see Matthew 13 The parables of the Kingdom)
Yet this beauty and harmony of the Kingdom of Heaven is apparently compromised by the rebellion of some of its creatures: jealousy and cunning have crept into the spirit, and confidence in the goodness of God’s work has been lost. Thus angels, following in Satan’s footsteps, became demons, tempting and setting traps for human creatures, leading them into error. Human beings lost confidence in God’s infinite goodness and generosity, and doubted his benevolence. Their bodies, which were created to be the perfect expression of their spirit, have become an obstacle to the extent that human beings have lost sight of the origin of their own life, their vital spirit, received from God out of love. Their eyes have been opened to earthly reality, and they have lost touch with the divine spiritual reality that gives them life and creates in them the resemblance of God.
Yet God does not take away the gift he offered to mankind; it is still God’s spirit, God’s breath, that animates each of his creatures. God’s spirit is love, there is only love in God, and we are created to experience the fullness of joy, the source of life from which we can freely and infinitely draw in the love that unites us to one another and to God. The spirit has become like a slave to the body, seeking out earthly realities that are perishable and powerless to offer the true happiness that lies in spiritual realities, love, friendship, benevolence and self-giving. Yet all this, this joy, is not far from us; it is not at all inaccessible, but within our reach. When our spirit chooses to love, it can sacrifice everything for this supreme good, even its own life. This is the spirit’s victory over death, over the fragility of our bodies and their transitory needs.
It may seem impossible to achieve this superhuman victory. All we have to do is rediscover our trust in God’s benevolence, in the gratuitousness of his gift, all we have to do is grasp the hand he extends to us as to his beloved children. He has already given us everything, offered us everything; it’s up to us to accept it.
It is the Spirit of God who will lead us to free ourselves from the grip of the flesh. That is to say, our body has been subjected to the desires of the flesh, but it was created to be the dwelling place of the spirit, and the Spirit of God will transform it into a spiritual body, that is to say, a body that obeys and is the perfect expression of the heavenly spirit that animates it. And so it was that certain apostles and prophets were given to contemplate this divine, heavenly reality, in which the spirit has overcome the works of the flesh, in which everything has been submitted, everything welcomes and expresses the infinite goodness of God.
Behold, the apostle John receives a vision in which the victory of the Spirit of God in each person is unveiled, and he will write what he has seen in the book of Revelation, the book of the Unveiling of the spiritual, eternal reality. What does not appear to us in our daily reality thus becomes visible to John, but the spirit is not limited by space and time, so the vision of spiritual, heavenly reality embraces all time. Thus, the Word of God becomes flesh, assumes a body and makes itself visible in the person of Jesus Christ. But the difficulty remains for mankind: how can we know, how can we see, whether his love is genuine, gratuitous and selfless, as the prophets foretold? It’s the deeds, the works that will prove it, that will manifest it. His life is offered, given, offered out of love, so that human beings may believe. What image, then, can reveal to us this spirit of love that is hidden from human sight, how can it make itself visible? It is the image of the spotless lamb with its throat cut that expresses this love: the innocent who offered his life out of love for mankind. God’s eternal love for mankind is presented to John through the image of the slaughtered lamb. Not everything John contemplates is immediately comprehensible, but the meaning of certain images is revealed to him: the seven flaming torches are the seven spirits (Rev 4, 5), the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches (Rev 1, 20), the seven lampstands are the seven churches (Rev 1, 20), the seven eyes of the lamb are the seven spirits of God sent to earth (Rev 5, 6), the golden cups full of perfume are the prayers of the saints (Rev 5, 8). It is not John who invents a symbolic language; these are images he sees, contemplates and whose meaning, the reality they cover and express, is revealed to him.
God is not subject to change; His love for each of His creatures is always the same. So these images express God’s love for each creature as much as for the world as a whole. These visions represent and condense the spiritual reality of both those who lived in the 1st century and those who live in the 21st century. This concerns the life of a singular individual in a particular era, as well as the history of the world as a whole. In the same way, evil, represented by the image of the dragon trying to devour the child, tells the story of Christ, the story of the Church throughout the centuries, and the story of every human being confronted with trial and saved by God.
Here, then, is the major difficulty in understanding the Book of Revelation: what is revealed through visions, what is made visible to John, is the victory of light over darkness, the victory of Christ over evil, the victory of God against whom no force can stand, against whom there is no strength. There is only what God has offered to his creatures: the gift of freedom to choose, to choose to love or to close one’s heart, to open one’s heart to others and taste the joy of friendship, of love, or to close one’s heart to the others, not to welcome the gift. What John contemplates is the victory over evil and death that is offered to every creature, at every moment in history and for all eternity. It’s a unique reality that every human being experiences in his or her relationship with life, with God’s gift, with others. Will he be able to accept what is offered to him? It is also the story of humanity as a whole, in which John contemplates the value of prayer, that is, of the trusting relationship with God and in which he is revealed how the prayer of each individual will have been instrumental in victory over evil and death. A definitive, eternal victory.
John’s vision reveals to every human being that his victory over evil, over every trial and death, has already been given to him, has already been offered to him. It’s a question of welcoming it in trust, in the faith that will enable each of us to overcome trials and be victorious over death. God reaches out to his children, nourishes them, strengthens them, helps them through trials and saves them from death, makes them victorious over evil, even after the many times they have lost confidence, given in to temptation, he will always be there, help always offered, a rock on which they can lean, their defender.
This vision reveals to us the reality of our spiritual life, showing us where to direct our hearts, where to put our trust, not in our own frailty, but in God’s infinite mercy, his infinite gift, his inexhaustible forgiveness.
The unveiling of the life of the spirit is also the unveiling of the reality of God who is spirit. God thus transcends our perception of time, embracing all time in his knowledge, and is not himself subject to the course of time, but it is time that is created, like heaven and earth are created, by him who is outside time. Now, the difficulty of Revelation is to present to us the divine work and reality which embraces all times. So, for example, the failure of the dragon to devour the child represents both the evil that was at work against Jesus, and the evil that continues, in every age, to attack the presence of God in each and every one of us. Thus, at the beginning of the Apocalypse, in verse 1, 8, the Lord himself affirms: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the One who is, who was and who is to come, the One who can do all things.” This is like an unfolding of God’s name: the four letters that no one can pronounce because they condense into a single word, and therefore at the same time, all the tenses of the verb to be, are here expressed, as if unrolled in time, God’s name is unveiled, revealed: he is, he was, he comes. Indeed, God says to Moses: “I am who I am.” That is, “I am”, and this signifies his presence in each of our eras. Jesus too, in the Gospel of John 8:28, affirms: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, you will know that I am”. Now, in the tetragrammaton, the four-letter Hebrew word, יהוה ihwh, which God reveals to Moses are contained the letters present in the verb היה haya, to be, in its various modes. (For detailed explanations of this, see the article The name of God.) At the same time, Jesus the Christ, who affirms “I am” and thus reveals to us that he is the God who revealed himself to Abraham, the unique God, also tells us that he is coming. Indeed, God who is, who was, who will be and who makes us be, God who is the one who is, who is present in all our times and who is eternally, is also the one who comes, who comes to save us. To save us, he entered into time, into the course of history, becoming flesh in Jesus Christ. But Jesus Christ is risen, he reigns forever, he has entered into the eternity of the Father with his risen flesh. And since he reigns with the Father, he also comes to our aid at all times, to every creature. He is also the one who comes, who has made a new covenant with humanity in his flesh, by offering his own life and shedding his own blood. This covenant between God and humanity has indeed been renewed, because humanity had broken it. But Jesus also tells us that this covenant is eternal, for he himself is the eternal, unchanging Word of God, who offers his life to the world, who makes us sharers in his love, and who continues to come to the aid of each one of us. This is why, at the end of the Apocalypse, the apostle Saint John invites us to turn to Jesus, moved by a filial Spirit of trust, he invites each of us to call on him for help, and he tells us:
“The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come! He who hears, let him say, “Come!” He who thirsts, let him come. He who desires, let him receive the water of life, freely.” (Revelation 22, 17)
The one who gives us this water is Jesus himself, tree and source of life, from whose side flowed water and blood, because he gave himself up for us, he gave his life for the salvation of humanity. And St John hastened to address him directly, asking him to come and save him, so that by expressing this desire, a reflection of his filial trust, he himself would become part of the Church, of the assembly of those called by God to take part in his wedding feast, the guests at the meal, those who will be united with the Bridegroom. And so it is St. John himself who speaks in the last verse of the apocalypse, giving us the example and revealing to us the Spirit that unites us to God in a gesture of total filial trust in the gratuitousness of his love:
“And he who gives this testimony declares, “Yes, I am coming without delay.” – Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all” (Revelation 22, 20-21).
He is invited, he goes without delay to Christ, because he sees him coming to meet him, he is the witness of his coming for us all and invites us to welcome his grace.
Quotation from the book: L’Apocalypse expliquée par Césaire d’Arles, Les Pères dans la foi, DDB, 1989, Paris, Scholie 25 attribuée à Origène, p.186-186 :
“Then I saw a vision. Behold, a door was opened in heaven, and the voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what is to happen next'”. (Revelation 4:1). We must read Scripture inspired by the Spirit of God wisely enough not to expose ourselves to the mockery of the world’s wise men. When they hear that a door has been opened in heaven, they think we are asserting something impossible. We reply that these texts are not written in the obvious sense, but have a hidden meaning. The essence of spiritual things is often designated in Scripture by the name of heaven: so when it says that a door is opened in heaven, let us understand “the clear distinction of spiritual things”, especially when a saint is said to actually ascend up there: you will be convinced of this by the fact that it is not written that John was taken up like Elijah by some force external to him (cf. 2 Kings 2), but he was commanded to ascend spontaneously to where the one who called him was, to heaven. John declares that the one who urged him with a loud voice, like the sound of a trumpet, spoke the words quoted above. He thus refers to the powerful voice of thought which was clearly inspired in him.
Biblical texts
In bold type in the original Hebrew or Greek text are words that express the need of visions to be explained by comparisons, allegories, images, parables, similes, to speak of spiritual and divine reality.
Numbers 12:6-8:
וַיֹּ֖אמֶר שִׁמְעוּ-נָ֣א דְבָרָ֑י אִם-יִֽהְיֶה֙ נְבִ֣יאֲכֶ֔ם יְהוָ֗ה בַּמַּרְאָה֙ אֵלָ֣יו אֶתְוַדָּ֔ע בַּחֲלֹ֖ום אֲדַבֶּר-בֹּֽו׃ לֹא-כֵ֖ן עַבְדִּ֣י מֹשֶׁ֑ה בְּכָל-בֵּיתִ֖י נֶאֱמָ֥ן הֽוּא׃ פֶּ֣ה אֶל-פֶּ֞ה אֲדַבֶּר-בֹּ֗ו וּמַרְאֶה֙ וְלֹ֣א בְחִידֹ֔ת וּתְמֻנַ֥ת יְהוָ֖ה יַבִּ֑יט וּמַדּ֙וּעַ֙ לֹ֣א יְרֵאתֶ֔ם לְדַבֵּ֖ר בְּעַבְדִּ֥י בְמֹשֶֽׁה׃
“Listen carefully to my words: when there is a prophet of the Lord among you, I make myself known to him in a vision, I speak to him in a dream. It is not so with my servant Moses, he who in all my house is trustworthy: it is mouth to mouth that I speak to him, in a clear vision and not in riddles and what he looks at is the representation (image) of the Lord. Why have you dared to criticize my servant Moses?”
We’re talking here about the privilege granted to Moses to speak with God directly and not through ḥidot enigmas that might leave us perplexed, images that require interpretation, explanation. On the other hand, with regard to the vision of God, the contemplation of God, this takes place through a temunah representation. The divine reality that surpasses our capacities is nevertheless revealed to Moses through a representation, an image that corresponds to the divine spiritual reality that becomes accessible to our perception.
Ezekiel 17:2:
בֶּן-אָדָ֕ם ח֥וּד חִידָ֖ה וּמְשֹׁ֣ל מָשָׁ֑ל אֶל-בֵּ֖ית יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
Son of man, propose a riddle, tell a parable to the house of Israel.
Here is God addressing the prophet and telling him to address the people with an example, a comparison, a parable. He uses two terms for these: ḥidah and mashal. The first has been translated as enigma because it arouses perplexity and requires explanation. The second, mashal, is the usual term indicating comparison, allegory, parable. So God will speak in parable, appealing to the understanding of those who want to understand, and providing the prophet with an explanation of the story he has announced to the people. Those who are willing to listen to God’s words through the prophet will also receive the understanding, the explanation from the prophet, while those who do not welcome these words, do not welcome their divine origin and will not have access to the reality represented by the images in the story.
In the ancient Jewish translation of the Bible into Greek, the Septuagint, the first word ḥidah is translated as diēgēma and is even accompanied by the same verb that is the origin of the noun: diēgéomai. It literally means to lead through and gives the idea of leading through facts by narration, leading through facts or events by images, stories. In Hebrew, too, the same root is used twice: ḥud ḥidah. So, God asks the prophet of to construct a narrative, an account of facts and then to propose to the people a parable, a mashal in Hebrew and a parabolē in the Greek translation. That is, to juxtapose, to parallel images and events, to link one story to another story. One gives an account of spiritual reality, the other of mere events. And God’s own explanation to the prophet captures the spiritual dimension of the events. Indeed, the historical events tell of a defeat in battle, but the parable tells us that this happened because the people betrayed a covenant, their hearts were double-minded and they became proud, and so he who exalted himself was humbled.
You can read the whole parable and its explanation in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 17.
Mark 4:30-34:
Καὶ ἔλεγεν Πῶς ὁμοιώσωμεν τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἢ ἐν τίνι αὐτὴν παραβολῇ θῶμεν; ὡς κόκκῳ σινάπεως, ὃς ὅταν σπαρῇ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, μικρότερον ὂν πάντων τῶν σπερμάτων τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, καὶ ὅταν σπαρῇ, ἀναβαίνει καὶ γίνεται μεῖζον πάντων τῶν λαχάνων, καὶ ποιεῖ κλάδους μεγάλους, ὥστε δύνασθαι ὑπὸ τὴν σκιὰν αὐτοῦ τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκηνοῖν. Καὶ τοιαύταις παραβολαῖς πολλαῖς ἐλάλει αὐτοῖς τὸν λόγον, καθὼς ἠδύναντο ἀκούειν- χωρὶς δὲ παραβολῆς οὐκ ἐλάλει, κατ’ ἰδίαν δὲ τοῖς ἰδίοις μαθηταῖς ἐπέλυεν πάντα.
Again he said, “To what shall we compare the reign of God? By what parable can we represent it? It is like a mustard seed: when you sow it in the ground, it is the smallest of all seeds. But when you sow it, it grows and surpasses all vegetable plants; and it spreads out long branches, so that the birds of the air can make their nests in its shade.” With many similar parables, Jesus announced the Word to them, as far as they were able to hear it. He told them nothing without a parable, but explained everything to his disciples in particular.
Here again are two terms that explain the need for a comparison, a parable, to tell us about the spiritual reality of the Kingdom of God. How can we account for our spiritual life, our inner attitude, our love for our neighbor? Our participation in the Kingdom of God depends on the openness of our hearts to enter into a filial, trusting attitude towards God, and therefore on our attitude towards our neighbor. Every creature is our own brother or sister. Here’s the parable of the mustard seed: once this tiny seed has grown, it becomes a large tree that can welcome a multitude of birds. What better way to speak to us of our spiritual attitude, which, trusting in God (faith is compared to a seed), gradually expands its welcome to the dimensions of the world, of the multitude of brothers and sisters, and becomes capable of welcoming everyone without distinction, like the tree welcoming birds from every horizon. This is the Kingdom of God, a kingdom of love that unites and gathers a multitude of brothers and sisters. A series of events, the trajectory of an entire human life, is thus described by a simple parable that narrates the spiritual adventure, the evolution, the transformation of our spirit to the dimensions of God’s love, which invites all his creatures into communion.
See also the article Parables of the Kingdom
Matthew 10:26-28:
μὴ οὖν φοβηθῆτε αὐτούς- οὐδὲν γάρ ἐστιν κεκαλυμμένον ὃ οὐκ ἀποκαλυφθήσεται, καὶ κρυπτὸν ὃ οὐ γνωσθήσεται. ὃ λέγω ὑμῖν ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ, εἴπατε ἐν τῷ φωτί- καὶ ὃ εἰς τὸ οὖς ἀκούετε, κηρύξατε ἐπὶ τῶν δωμάτων. καὶ μὴ φοβεῖσθε ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποκτεννόντων τὸ σῶμα, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν μὴ δυναμένων ἀποκτεῖναι- φοβεῖσθε δὲ μᾶλλον τὸν δυνάμενον καὶ ψυχὴν σῶμα ἀπολέσαι ἐν γεέννῃ.
So do not fear these people; nothing is veiled that will not be revealed, nothing is hidden that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, say in the light; what you hear in the hollow of the ear, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body without being able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who can destroy the soul as well as the body in Gehenna.
The reality of the spirit is indeed hidden. What’s important is the spirit with which we carry out our actions: for our personal interest or for the love of our neighbor? This life of the spirit, the intention, the secret of the heart, does not appear in plain sight, but it does appear, is revealed, in the visions of the prophets, just as the dragon or beast or devil that leads mankind astray appears in the book of Revelation. And the corruption of humanity, prey to its desires, is also represented by the image of Babylon, for example.
Matthew 13:10-17:
Καὶ προσελθόντες οἱ μαθηταὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ Διὰ τί ἐν παραβολαῖς λαλεῖς αὐτοῖς; ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν ‘αὐτοῖς’ ὅτι Ὑμῖν δέδοται γνῶναι τὰ μυστήρια τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἐκείνοις δὲ οὐ δέδοται. ὅστις γὰρ ἔχει, δοθήσεται αὐτῷ καὶ περισσευθήσεται- ὅστις δὲ οὐκ ἔχει, καὶ ὃ ἔχει ἀρθήσεται ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ. διὰ τοῦτο ἐνπαραβολαῖς αὐτοῖς λαλῶ, ὅτι βλέποντες οὐ βλέπουσιν καὶ ἀκούοντες οὐκ ἀκούουσιν οὐδὲ συνίουσιν. καὶ ἀναπληροῦται αὐτοῖς ἡ προφητεία Ἠσαΐου* ἡ λέγουσα Ἀκοῇ ἀκούσετε καὶ οὐ μὴ συνῆτε, καὶ βλέποντες βλέψετε οὐ μὴ ἴδητε. ἐπαχύνθη γὰρ ἡ καρδία τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου, καὶ τοῖς ὠσὶν βαρέως ἤκουσαν, καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν ἐκάμμυσαν- μή‿ ποτε ἴδωσιν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς καὶ ὠσὶν ἀκούσωσιν καὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ συνῶσιν καὶ ἐπιστρέψωσιν, καὶ ἰάσομαι αὐτούς. ὑμῶν δὲ μακάριοι οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ ὅτι βλέπουσιν, καὶ τὰ ὦτα ὑμῶν ὅτι ἀκούουσιν. 17 ἀμὴν γὰρ λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι πολλοὶ προφῆται καὶ δίκαιοι ἐπεθύμησαν ἰδεῖν ἃ βλέπετε καὶ οὐκ εἶδαν, καὶ ἀκοῦσαι ἃ ἀκούετε καὶ οὐκ ἤκουσαν.
The disciples approached and said to him: Why do you speak to them in parables? Jesus answered them, Because it was given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and it was not given to them. For to him who has shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but to him who has not, even that which he has shall be taken away. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they neither hear nor understand. And to them is fulfilled this prophecy of Isaiah: You shall hear with your ears, and not understand; you shall see with your eyes, and not see. For the heart of this people has become unfeeling; they have hardened their ears and closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, convert, and I will heal them. But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear! Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it; to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.
The words of the gospel could also suggest that Jesus intended to hide spiritual reality by using parables, rather than making it accessible. Indeed, earlier, Jesus said to the disciples: “To you is given the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those outside, everything is presented in the form of parables. And so, as the prophet says: They may look with all their eyes, but they will not see; they may listen with all their ears, but they will not understand; otherwise they would convert and receive forgiveness.” Now, it’s important to understand that Jesus himself is the kingdom of God, in whom all creatures are welcomed in love. To have access to Jesus, to respond to his call, means to enter into the Kingdom, into a trusting relationship with God. The apostles left everything to follow him, and every day they renew their trust in him and let themselves be led by him. Since the parables speak to us of spiritual reality, of the attitude of our heart towards others, it is not possible to understand them if our heart is closed to the experience of love, of trust in God. The experience of love, whether received or given, opens us up to the understanding of the parables, helping us to discern our own conduct and to move towards the Kingdom each day as we meet our neighbor. To the extent that listeners’ hearts are closed to listening, to welcoming their neighbor, to trusting God’s word, they will not be able to recognize the reality to which they are called. They’re not ready to receive any teaching from Jesus or the apostles, they’re only looking to trap them, to condemn them, they’re not ready to look for the connection between the parable and what’s going on in their heart, their spiritual life. This is why the first Christians often called for the practice of charity, of gratuitous love, so that the experience of love opens the heart to faith and to the understanding of faith. The experience of love prepares the intellect to recognize in the words of the Gospel, in the attitude of Jesus, the characteristics of divine, gratuitous, selfless love. The joy and inner peace that flow from the friendly, fraternal bond that unites us to our neighbor prepares us to attempt the experience of faith, of trust, of surrendering our lives into God’s hands.
The Kingdom of God that the apostles can see is the lógos of God made flesh, made visible in its unity and perfection, where the spirit expresses itself through the flesh that obeys to him.
John 16:25-30:
Ταῦτα ἐν παροιμίαις λελάληκα ὑμῖν- ἔρχεται ὥρα ὅτε οὐκέτι ἐν παροιμίαις λαλήσω ὑμῖν, ἀλλὰ παρρησίᾳ περὶ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἀπαγγελῶ ὑμῖν. ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου αἰτήσεσθε, καὶ οὐ λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐρωτήσω τὸν Πατέρα περὶ ὑμῶν- αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ Πατὴρ φιλεῖ ὑμᾶς, ὅτι ὑμεῖς ἐμὲ πεφιλήκατε καὶ πεπιστεύκατε ὅτι ἐγὼ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐξῆλθον. ἐξῆλθον ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ ἐλήλυθα εἰς τὸν κόσμον- πάλιν ἀφίημι τὸν κόσμον καὶ πορεύομαι πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα. Λέγουσιν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ Ἴδε νῦν ἐν παρρησίᾳ λαλεῖς, καὶ παροιμίαν οὐδεμίαν λέγεις. νῦν οἴδαμεν ὅτι οἶδας πάντα καὶ οὐ χρείαν ἔχεις ἵνα τίς σε ἐρωτᾷ- τούτῳ πιστεύομεν ὅτι ἀπὸ Θεοῦ ἐξῆλθες.
In saying this, I have spoken to you in images. The hour is coming when I will speak to you without images, and announce to you openly what concerns the Father. On that day, you will ask in my name, but I do not say to you that I will pray to the Father for you, for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and believed that I came forth from God. I came out from the Father and came into the world; now I’m leaving the world and going to the Father.” His disciples say to him, “Behold, you speak openly and no longer in images. Now we know that you know all things, and do not need to be questioned: this is why we believe that you have come forth from God.”
Now the apostle John uses another Greek word in place of parable. This is the word paroimía, which corresponds more closely to the Hebrew word mashal. This word, which came to mean a proverb, evokes a comparison, a parallelism between two things, two realities. The proverb is used to reveal good or bad behavior without directly addressing its author, leaving him free to accept the praise or reproach, so that he understands, but leaving him free to respond, to accept or reject the word addressed to him. It’s also a question of giving the guilty party an opportunity to repent, to recognize the wrongdoing of his bad behavior without condemning him, but offering him the opportunity to amend himself.
1 Corinthians 13:12:
βλέπομεν γὰρ ἄρτι δι’ ἐσόπτρου ἐν αἰνίγματι, τότε δὲ πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον- ἄρτι γινώσκω ἐκ μέρους, τότε δὲ ἐπιγνώσομαι καθὼς καὶ ἐπεγνώσθην.
Today we see by means of a mirror, obscurely, but then we shall see face to face; today I know in part, but then I shall know as I have been known.
Romans 8:5-8:
οἱ γὰρ κατὰ σάρκα ὄντες τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς φρονοῦσιν, οἱ δὲ κατὰ πνεῦμα τὰ πνεύματος τοῦ. τὸ γὰρ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκὸς θάνατος, τὸ δὲ φρόνημα τοῦ πνεύματος ζωὴ καὶ εἰρήνη. διότι τὸ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκὸς ἔχθρα εἰς Θεόν- τῷ γὰρ νόμῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐχ ὑποτάσσεται, οὐδὲ γὰρ δύναται- οἱ δὲ ἐν σαρκὶ ὄντες Θεῷ ἀρέσαι οὐ δύνανται.
Those who are according to the flesh think about the things of the flesh; but those who are according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit. For the thoughts of the flesh are death; but the thoughts of the Spirit are life and peace. This is why the thoughts of the flesh are hostile to God, for they do not submit to God’s Law; indeed, they cannot. So those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
First letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 15:
https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__PZK.HTM
This chapter sums up the Christian faith, the whole good news of the Gospel: how Jesus Christ came to our rescue and gave us a share in his resurrection. His resurrection is a victory over evil, and our bodies will be resurrected as spiritual bodies, where the flesh will be perfectly informed and obedient to the spirit, and we will be transformed into the image of Christ.
Letter of Saint Paul to the Galatians, chapter 5:
https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__P105.HTM
In this chapter, St. Paul tells us about the fruits the Holy Spirit will bear in us, how he leads us to love our neighbor, and how he achieves in us the victory over evil through the grace of Jesus Christ.