Whenever a Catholic wants to raise the eyebrows of his coreligionists, he mentions that he's been studying the Book of Revelation, or "Revelations" as it is often mistakenly called.

I haven't been long at it, only off and on for seven years, so I'm no expert. However, Revelation is the biblical book that I have studied the most frequently, in the most varied of settings, usually academic settings, especially graduate school. On occasion, I have worked diligently at understanding the book and have read a few commentaries, several times through. I have had the privilege of hearing Fr. LaVerdiere, SSS, lecture on the book and also a local priest from the Benedictine Abbey in Morristown give a close reading of the Apocalypse. Further, I have participated in periodic study of apocalyptic literature with Dr. Jim Bridges.

So, forgive me for being skeptical when the guy said to me that it's a real easy book to figure out, just plug in the real world thing for each symbolic reference and you're good to go. But I didn't burst his bubble; I tried to hear him out. And when he said that, while reading, God told him that Jesus' return is delayed so that the man has more time to evangelize people, I had trouble discerning the precise passage in Revelation that inspired this notion in him.

I'm not saying his insight is foreign to ideas found elsewhere in the New Testament. I just had trouble recalling a particular verse from John's Apocalypse. But, a book nearby in the canonical order is Second Peter with its insistence that God "is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (2 Pet. 3:9b NIV) So, I shared this with him, and he was sure that Revelation also stressed God's forbearance. Maybe it's just me, but I would suspect that Revelation is the LAST place people go, expecting to find a message about God's patience.