The Meaning of the Little Scroll in the Book of Revelations

So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll; and he said to me, ‘Take it, and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth.’ So I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it; it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. 

 Then they said to me, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.’ (Revelations 10: 9-11)

What is this little scroll? It is God’s word. The eating of the scroll says to us that we must take God’s word and make it our own. We must chew on it, embrace it, and then proclaim it to the people. When we begin to follow God we often experience sweetness, but then as we proceed in the spiritual life, things grow more difficult. It is the same when we preach the word of God. The initial preaching is exciting, but when we call for repentance and conversion and speak about God’s justice and judgment, the message becomes hard to hear, hard to speak, hard to stomach. Instead of focusing on the difficulty of the message, we should be amazed that God speaks to us at all and that we weak human beings are capable of receiving such wisdom and grace as it comes from God. It is amazing, really. God loves us so much that he cannot help reaching out to us, loving us, showing his wisdom to us. He uses many ways to reach our hearts. This can be through the homily and prayers at Mass, through the work that we do, in people who speak to us, in quiet times and in the midst of great tribulation. We need to develop a listening ear and an open heart as God invites us to trust him and to listen to him and for him. God is reaching out to us. Take time to let this truth sink in. Chew on this message for a while, turn it over in your mind. Put God’s word into practice. Stop and listen throughout the day to the word of God speaking to you. Put God’s word into your own words, apply it to the situation. Let God’s word work in the world you know and believe that he is speaking to you. He cannot help but do so.

--Father James Kumbakkeel, O.S.B