“And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven, as it were for half an hour. And I saw seven angels standing in the presence of God; and there were given to them seven trumpets. And another angel came, and stood before the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given to him much incense, that he should offer of the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which is before the throne of God. And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God from the hand of the angel. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it on the earth, and there were thunders and voices and lightnings, and a great earthquake.”
Upon the opening of the seventh seal, there is a dramatic silence, which the prophets indicate to be a symbol of God’s action: “Be silent before the face of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is near, for the Lord hath prepared a victim, he hath sanctified his guests” (Sophonias 1:7); “Let all flesh be silent at the presence of the Lord: for he is risen up out of his holy habitation” (Zacharias 2:13). It simultaneously echoes the liturgical silence when priests offered incense: “And all the multitude of the people was praying without, at the hour of incense” (Luke 1:10), and the atmosphere of heavy silence between Holy Thursday and Easter Sunday. Concerning silence, it is not an emptiness or void, but Christian, contemplative silence is a lover’s silence, that which looks on the beloved with a happy heart full of a love that transcends words: “Thy eyes are like the fishpools in Hesebon, which are in the gate of the daughter of the multitude” (Canticle 7:4). From this, seven angels stand before God, which are the seven preeminent archangels Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Saraqael, Gabriel, and Remiel. They hold trumpets, which were blown to gather the people for war: “If you go forth to war out of your land against the enemies that fight against you, you shall sound aloud with the trumpets, and there shall be a remembrance of you before the Lord you God, that you may be delivered out of the hands of your enemies” (Numbers 10:8), to welcome a king: “Let Sadoc the priest, and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and you shall sound the trumpet, and shall say: ‘God save king Solomon’” (3 Kings 1:34), and for solemn feasts: “Blow the trumpet on the new moon, on the noted day of your solemnity” (Psalm 80:4), all of which are applicable to the book of Revelation, for the angels and saints gather against evil and the forces of darkness in preparation for the coming of the King, who welcomes them to the perpetual feast of the celestial wedding banquet: “The bridegroom came: and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage” (Matthew 25:10). One angel then takes a ministerial position before an altar, which in the temple was a place where incense was offered twice a day. The golden censer in one sense can represent the Immaculate Heart, which is the channel of all grace and the motherly harbor of all prayer, and this censer is given both incense and the prayers of the saints, the incense here indicative of God’s own favors to His people, thus their virtues and merits mixed with their prayers to give them a sweet savor: “Take unto thee spices, stacte, and onycha, galbanum of sweet savour, and the clearest frankincense, all shall be of equal weight. And thou shalt make incense compounded by the work of the perfumer, well tempered together, and pure, and most worthy of sanctification” (Exodus 30:34-35). This angel offers the prayers of the people on a golden altar before the throne, the altar being representative of Jesus, in whose Sacred Heart every prayer of His loved ones is heard, kept, and lovingly regarded: “The eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears unto their prayers” (1 Peter 3:12). This prayer and goodness then rises before God as something precious and good through the mediation of Jesus, Mary, and the angels, with no pleading of love left disregarded. The golden censer is then filled with fire, which is representative of the fire of love that is the Holy Spirit and cast onto the earth; in looking at this censer as the Immaculate Heart, this can be seen as the Marian apparitions that plead prayer and conversion, but moving into the plain sense, it is a look at God’s love coming forth as divine justice, not for punishment, but to draw His children to at least leaving behind mortal sin: “Chastise thy son, despair not: but to the killing of him set not thy soul” (Proverbs 19:18), entering the Church, without which there is no salvation: “And he destroyed all the substance that was upon the earth, from man even to beast, and the creeping things and fowls of the air: and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noe only remained, and they that were with him in the ark” (Genesis 7:23), and participating in the sacraments: “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you” (John 6:54). The signs that then emerge are similar to those in God’s descent to Mount Sinai: “Behold thunders began to be heard, and lightning to flash, and very thick cloud to cover the mount, and the noise of the trumpet sounded exceeding loud, and the people that was in the camp, feared… And all mount Sinai was on a smoke: because the Lord was come down upon it in fire, and the smoke arose from it as out of a furnace: and all the mount was terrible” (Exodus 19:16-18). This is because man cannot see God in His essence, so great is His glory: “For man shall not see me and live” (Exodus 33:20), for in an excess of glory and love, the soul would immediately leave the body in ecstasy. Instead, what is made serves the Maker, and so angelic voices, the heavens, and the earth all declare the Lord’s action and presence, testifying to their Architect’s great power, that these things are in His hand.