Mary - the Ark of the Covenant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the earliest times, the Church has believed and taught that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the fulfilment of the Ark of the Covenant. For example:

“...the Saviour appeared and showed His own body to the world, born of the Virgin, who was the Ark overlaid with pure gold, with the Word within and the Holy Spirit without; so that the truth is demonstrated, and the Ark made manifest.” – St. Hippolytus (d. 236AD), Second Fragment on Daniel, Chapter 6

“Arise, O Lord, into Your rest; You, and the Ark of Your Sanctuary. For the Holy Virgin is in truth the Ark, wrought with gold both within and without, that has received the whole treasury of the Sanctuary.” – St Gregory Thaumaturgus (d. 275AD), Homily On the Annunciation

There are many more quotes available here, for any who are interested in digging deeper.

Well, as Catholics, it seems pretty obvious to us that Mary is the New Ark. The Ark was made of the purest gold – fulfilled in Mary’s Immaculate Conception. Mary bore within her womb the Lord Jesus Christ; and the Ark of the Covenant bore within it three things, which are fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ:

1)    The Rod of Aaron – Jesus the Eternal High Priest

2)    The Ten Commandments – Jesus the Great Prophet and Giver of the Law

3)    The Manna – Jesus the Bread of Life which comes from heaven

For Catholics, the idea that Mary is the New Ark of the Covenant is simply a logical conclusion. But is there more to it? What about Sacred Scripture – does the Bible back up what we claim? After all, whilst we don’t hold to the notion of Sola Scriptura, we do believe that what the Holy Catholic Church teaches will never contradict Sacred Scripture.

So what does Scripture have to say on this subject then? We know that the New Testament clearly points to the Lord Jesus Christ as the fulfilment of many Old Testament types e.g. the New Adam (1 Cor 15:45), the Eternal High Priest (Heb 6:20), the New Temple (Jn 2:19-21), the New Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5:7), etc. But Mary, the New Ark of the Covenant? Did the Church Fathers simply dream this up? Where did they get such an idea? The New Testament never specifically says that Mary is the New Ark of the Covenant…or does it?
 
In his Apocalypse, St. John tells us that he saw the Temple of God open up in heaven, and he beheld the Ark of the Covenant (Rev 11:19). Then he goes on to elaborate on what he saw…he saw a great sign in heaven, a Woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head (Rev 12:1). Because of the chapter and verse divisions in our modern Bibles, we often miss the connection that St. John is making here. But, St. John didn’t write the Book of Revelation with chapter and verse divisions in mind. So, when he tells us about the Woman, he is developing what he saw in respect of the Ark of the Covenant.
 
So who is this Woman? Well, the Book of Revelation is a multi-layered prophecy with the images portrayed by St. John as being able to refer to various things all at the same time (e.g. the seven-headed dragon refers to seven mountains as well as seven kings, according to Rev 17:9). In a similar way, the image of the Woman is able to refer to multiple things (including Israel and the Church). But one thing that the image of the Woman undoubtedly refers to is the Blessed Virgin Mary. After all, if child referred to in Rev 12:4-5 is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, then it stands to reason that the Woman who gives birth to Him is none other than the Blessed Virgin Mary. So, St. John was telling us that Mary is the New Ark of the Covenant.

But that’s not the only reference we have. In St. Luke’s Gospel, when speaking about the visitation of the Blessed Virgin to St. Elisabeth (Lk 1:39-45), he subtly makes use an episode in Israel’s history for his backdrop. The parallel event that St. Luke draws upon is the relocating of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (see 2 Sam 6:1-16). There is so much overlap between these two passages that it is impossible to deny that St. Luke, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wanted us to see Mary as the New Ark of the Covenant. For example, here are just a few brief parallels to consider:

• Mary arose and went into the hill country of Judea (Lk 1:39); David and his men go up into the same region (2 Sam 6:2)
• The baby leaped in Elisabeth’s womb (Lk 1:41); David leaped with dancing (2 Sam 6:16)
• Elisabeth’s exultation at Mary’s arrival (Lk 1:42); the people’s exultation at the Ark’s arrival (1 Chron 15:28)
• Elisabeth asks: “How could it be that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” (Lk 1:43); David asks: “How could the Ark of the Lord come to me?” (2 Sam 6:9)
• Mary remains in the house of Elisabeth for three months (Lk 1:56); The Ark remained in the house of Obededom for three months (2 Sam 6:11)

[I should add that 1 Sam 6:6-8 mentions Uzzah putting forth his hand to touch the Ark, which was forbidden. In like manner, the Blessed Virgin was “untouched” by any man.]

These passages from St. John’s Apocalypse and St. Lukes Gospel show clearly that the early Church’s belief that Mary is the New Ark of the Covenant has a solid Scriptural foundation; and these passages often form the basic Catholic apologetic to Protestants who think otherwise.

But earlier this week, as I started reading Pope Benedict’s “Jesus of Nazareth - the Infancy Narratives”, I learned that there is even more in St. Luke’s account that points to Our Lady as the New Testament fulfilment of the Ark of the Covenant.  In fact, it is the first thing that St. Luke does to introduce us to the Blessed Virgin Mary – almost as if that was a fundamental point that he was trying to get across.

St. Luke introduces Mary to us in the words of Gabriel: “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with thee!” (Lk 1:28). These words are uttered by the Lord God, through the words of His messenger Gabriel, in fulfilment of the prophecy in Zeph 3:14-17:

Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away the judgments against you,
he has cast out your enemies.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
you shall fear evil no more.
On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Do not fear, O Zion;
let not your hands grow weak.
The Lord your God is in your midst,
a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

The Greek word used in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament that St. Luke would have been familiar with) for “Sing aloud!” in Zeph 3:14 is the word “chairo!”. It means to “be full of cheer” or to “rejoice”. Why must the daughter of Zion rejoice? Zeph 3:17 tells us – because the Lord is in her midst. The Hebrew word for “in the midst of” is “qereb” and literally translated, it means “in the womb”. And it is the same word (“qereb”) that is used elsewhere in the Old Testament to describe how God dwells with His people in....(guess what???)...the Ark of the Covenant! So, Zephaniah prophesies for the daughter of Zion to rejoice because God will dwell within her womb.

Now, you’ll never guess what word St. Luke uses for Gabriel’s “Hail!” in his greeting of the Blessed Virgin? You got it! It is “chairo!”.  And why must Mary rejoice? Because she – the handmaid of the Lord – has God with her, in her midst, in her womb.

[Noting this, we also see that the Blessed Virgin becomes the fulfilment of the “daughter of Zion” – which has implications that point us back to the Woman in Rev 12:1.]

Note also that in Zeph 3:16, the prophet says to the people: “Fear not” (Zeph 3:16); and so too does Gabriel to Mary (Lk 1:30).

I just need to raise one more point needs to be made that would no doubt have been at the forefront of St. Luke’s mind as he was penning this narrative...

St. Luke knew that the Presence of God came to dwell in the midst (or in the womb) of His people by the cloud covering (or overshadowing) the Tabernacle / Temple (e.g. Ex 40:34; 2 Chron 5:13). And that is exactly how God came to dwell in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary i.e. by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit (Lk 1:35).

Now, this is all just merely scratching the surface regarding the Scriptural basis for Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant. At the very least what it shows is that the Church Fathers, in teaching that Mary was the Ark of God, were simply being faithful in preserving and developing true Apostolic doctrine, handed down through the teaching of the Church. And this same doctrine has also been preserved for us within Sacred Scripture – if only we are prepared to go looking...

As the Ark of the Covenant brought peace to God’s people because it was the sign that God was in their midst; so too may the presence of Our Lady in your life bring peace to your soul...because she is always with the Lord, who is the Great Prince of Peace!

 

Relationship or Religion?

A little while back I was having an online conversation with a well-meaning non-Catholic Christian who was trying to “encourage” me to give up my Catholic faith for what he called was “the real Jesus”. He argued that I needed to give up the Rosaries, Crucifixes, Missals, etc. because they were distractions to truly knowing Jesus. Instead, he suggested that I take up the King James Version Bible, because it is only through the KJV that I will know Jesus. 

Sadly, many “fundamentalist” Christians (like this particular gentleman) believe that “religion” is a hindrance to knowing God. They are often heard to say that “Christianity is not a religion; it is a relationship” – a relationship with Jesus. The below video entitled “Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus” provides a good example of what this kind of thinking entails.

My favourite response to the above video was this one by Fr. Claude Burns.

 

Unfortunately, what this kind of thinking (“Christianity is not a religion; it is a relationship”) fails to grasp is that religion is not opposed to relationship. And neither are religious articles a hindrance to knowing God and growing in relationship with him. As an example, consider our everyday lives – we have families, and part of what it means to be a family is to have photo albums, heirlooms, and a plethora of other articles that give witness to the family bond. These articles don’t hinder our family relationship; rather, they exist as a testament that we are family; and they very often evoke fond memories reminding us of what it means to “be family”. In this way, these articles enhance our familial relationships. So for this man to suggest that I destroy all my “religious articles” would be like me asking him to destroy anything that reminds him of his family.  

Ultimately, religion and relationship go hand in hand. Religion is ultimately about relationship, and because of this, the two cannot be separated. As Fulton J. Sheen so wisely put it: 

“Religion is not what you do with your solitariness, but what you do with your relationships.” – Fulton J. Sheen; Seven Words of Jesus and Mary

When we consider religion in this context, the words of St. James and St. John in Sacred Scripture where they talk about religion comes to life in an amazing way:

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” – James 1:27

“If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?” – James 2:16

“How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” – 1 Jn 3:17-18

In a nutshell, religion IS about relationship; and a relationship with Christ cannot exist without religion. But I think it goes even deeper than this. As I was mulling over this, I came to realise that talking about having a “relationship with Christ”, even within the context of religion, is still grossly understated. I mean, when you really get down to it, what does it mean to have a “relationship with Christ”?

A “relationship” could mean anything – I have a relationship with my work colleagues; with my neighbours; with my friends; and also with my family. These are all relationships, but that doesn’t mean that they’re all the same. What makes my relationship with my friends deeper than that with my work colleagues? And what makes my relationship with my family surpass all of these? And when you come down to it – how do I know that to have a “relationship with Jesus” isn’t like the relationship with my work colleagues?

You see, the depth of relationship is about depth of communion. The relationship that I have with my wife surpasses all other relationships because of the depth of communion that I have with her – a communion so grounded in love that in it two become one flesh. And our children form part of this intimate communion because they are the fruit of the love that my wife and I have for each other.

And that is where religion really comes into focus because religion is about communion – the creature seeking communion with the Creator; mortality seeking communion with immortality; man seeking communion with the Divine. 

But this aspect of communion is taken to a whole different level when we speak of it in the context of the true religion and the fullness of faith found in the Catholic Church. This is because the Catholic faith is not so much about man seeking communion with God; but rather God seeking communion with man. 

That is the whole reason for the Incarnation. God became man and dwelt among us so that He could restore us to communion with Him, and this is the reason that Our Lord cried out on the Cross “I thirst” (Jn 19:28). God-become-man thirsts for communion with His creatures; and God becomes man so that He can redeem us and restore us to communion with Him.

I have blogged before on the “transaction” that takes place in the Holy Mass (for example,  see here, here, here, and here ). Like the intimacy of a marriage, the Holy Mass is about a mutual exchange of persons in love. The Eucharist involves us lovingly offering ourselves up on the altar in the bread and the wine; and Christ in turn lovingly giving Himself to us by changing the bread and wine into His Body and Blood. But when He does so, He is also changing us by feeding us with Himself.

So really, there are two Transubstantiations that take place in the Mass. The first, and most obvious, is when the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ. The second is when we, represented by the bread and the wine, are changed into the image of Christ.

To make the point in a better way than I ever could, I would like to quote the Blessed Fulton Sheen again:

“We are on the altar under the appearance of bread and wine, for both are the substance of life; therefore in giving that which gives us life we are symbolically giving ourselves. Furthermore, wheat must suffer to become bread; grapes must pass through the wine-press to become wine. Hence both are representative of Christians who are called to suffer with Christ, that they may also reign with Him....

“[In the Mass] I give myself to God. Here is my body. Take it. Here is my blood. Take it. Here is my soul, my will, my energy, my strength, my property, my wealth – all that I have. It is yours. Take it! Consecrate it! Offer it!...Transubstantiate me so that like bread which is now Thy Body, and wine which is now Thy Blood, I too may be wholly Thine. I care not if the species remain, or that like the bread and the wine I seem to all earthly eyes the same as before. My station in life, my routine duties, my work, my family – all these are but the species of my life which may remain unchanged. But the substance of my life – my soul, my mind, my will, my heart – transubstantiate them, transform them whole into Thy service, so that through me all may know how sweet is the love of Christ.” – Calvary and the Mass, A Missal Companion

As Catholics, may we never be ashamed to say that we love our religion; because it is through the Catholic Church that God has given man the best opportunity of being reunited in communion with Him.

The Four Gifts of our Glorified Bodies

In the Second Reading for today (Second Sunday of Advent, Year C), we hear St. Paul say:

“Brothers and sisters:
I pray always with joy in my every prayer for all of you,
because of your partnership for the gospel
from the first day until now.
I am confident of this,
that the One who began a good work in you
will continue to complete it
until the Day of Christ Jesus.
God is my witness,
how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
And this is my prayer:
that your love may increase ever more and more
in knowledge and every kind of perception,
to discern what is of value,
so that you may be pure and blameless for the Day of Christ,
filled with the fruit of righteousness
that comes through Jesus Christ.” – Phil 1:4-6, 8-11

 

St. Paul talks about growing in knowledge and understanding so that we can become pure and blameless, and so prepare ourselves for the Day of Christ, in which the faithful will reach perfect goodness (the fruit of righteousness) through Christ. As mentioned in my previous blog, this is achieved ultimately in the Beatific Vision, where we are made to be fully like our Lord Jesus Christ because we behold Him as He is (1 Jn 3:2).

As we prepare for the coming of Christ in this Season of Advent, our hearts and minds should be drawn particularly to the final article of the Apostles’ Creed:

“I believe...in the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen”

I am busy reading through the Catechism of the Council of Trent, and I happened to be reading through the Catechism’s explanation of this final Article of the Apostles’ Creed, which is certainly worth the read if you have never read it. What I found particularly significant, is the Catechism’s teaching on “What Gifts the Bodies of the Blest shall be adorned after the Resurrection” (see Part I - Question XI).

The Catechism on this point is so profound that I had to share it. There are four gifts principally which our Resurrected bodies will enjoy in Heaven. They are:

1) Impassibility – the gift whereby our glorified bodies will be beyond the reach of suffering any pain or any inconvenience. 

2) Brightness / glory – the gift whereby our glorified bodies will be said to “shine like the sun” (Matt 13:43).

3) Agility – the gift whereby our glorified bodies will be able to go wherever the soul shall please without any hindrance. 

4) Subtility – the gift whereby our bodies will be in complete subjection to the dominion of our souls. 

Of all the above gifts, I’d have to say that my “favourite” is subtility. In our current weak bodies, the flesh and the spirit are at enmity against each other; we want to do good, but we struggle to; we want to avoid sin, but we find ourselves constantly falling (Rom 7:21ff). Or as Our Lord said, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matt 26:41). With the great gift of subtility, our bodies will be in complete subjection to our souls, which in turn will be in complete subjection to God...and so we will be able to perfectly obey the will of our Heavenly Father.

As if to spur us on, the Lord God has left us examples of these great gifts in Our Lord Jesus and in His Blessed Mother. That is a whole different topic, but it is worth mentioning as something to meditate upon during these days of Advent. If we want to attain to these gifts, let us never cease to ask Our Lord through Mary for them. 

And with these amazing gifts in mind, promised by Our Lord to all those who persevere in faith, may we grow in our love for Him as we await the blessed hope and coming in glory of our Great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The Real Message of the Crucifix

Sometimes, being a Christian can be pretty dark. There are often times when God feels distant from us – what St. John of the Cross called “the dark night of the soul”. This feeling of dryness and separation has been felt by the most eminent of the Saints. In our own times, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta often spoke of the “emptiness” that she felt, even though her life was evidence that she walked closely with Our Blessed Lord every day.

But there are also other times when we can feel distant from God due to our own faults. In our broken humanness, we can say and do things that separate us little by little from the grace of God...until we reach a point where we don’t even recognise God anymore (or ourselves for that matter).

The week gone by has been one of these kinds of weeks for me. As I was examining my conscience last night in preparation for Reconciliation, I saw that little by little I had been guilty of distancing myself from God – an unkind word here, a bad thought there, and so on...and so on...and before I knew it I was looking back at a detestable wretch. But thanks be to God, this is not where things end for us Christians – despite how bad we, or things around us, might get. On my knees before God, I looked up...and before my eyes was the Crucifix.

As I knelt before that Crucifix last night, I realised something. I have crucifixes all over my house – almost one in each room. I am surrounded by them. But seldom does this really touch me. And this really convicted me last night. As much as I see crucifixes in our home and in our churches, I have been guilty of not truly seeing. As much as I encounter crucifixes in my day, seldom do I really encounter them. I dare say that this is probably true for many of us Catholics. Why is this? Is it because we are so surrounded by crucifixes that we take them for granted? Possibly...but, I think that there is something that goes deeper.

Kneeling before that Crucifix last night, I came to appreciate why the Crucifix is so important, and this is because I suddenly grasped the real message of the Crucifix – and realised that I have missed it. And missing the real message of the Crucifix is the root cause of why we are so prone to take the crucifixes that surround us so for granted.

What is the real message – the real CORE message – of the Crucifix? It is this: God loves us! Three little words – so easy to miss; but also three infinitely immense words – with equally immense consequences:   

GOD LOVES US!

On the Crucifix we behold that Christ died for us. Why? Because GOD LOVES US! This is how St. Paul said it in Romans 5:8:

“...God proves His love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us”.

That is the message of the Crucifix! Look at the Crucifix again...what do you see? Do you see it? Do you see that God loves us?

Behold it in the face our Blessed Lord – GOD LOVES US!

Behold it in His nail-scarred hands – GOD LOVES US!

Behold it nailed to His beautiful feet – GOD LOVES US!

Behold how it flows from His open side and crown-pierced brow – GOD LOVES US!

This is why the Crucifix is so important for ALL Christians – not just Catholics. Sadly, Protestants tend to scorn the Crucifix in favour of an empty Cross because, they claim, the empty Cross tells us not only that Jesus died, but also that He rose again. Because this is true may empty crosses continue to abound! But, what an empty Cross is not able to do is portray God’s love in the way that the Crucifix does. So, may crucifixes abound even more!

As Christians, our calling is to love God and to love others...and the Crucifix helps us to do this. This is because it is only as we perceive God’s love for us in the crucified Christ that we can actually learn what it means to love. St. Paul reminds us:

 

“...be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Eph 5:1-2)

As we walk through our homes, or into our churches, and whenever we behold the Crucifix, may we be reminded afresh of God’s infinite love towards us.

And, if the image of the Crucifix that surrounds us every day isn’t continually changing us, may we take some time to remember again the message of God’s love that we have missed.

Behold, O good and sweetest Jesus,

I cast myself upon my knees in Thy sight,

and with the most fervent desire of my soul

I pray and beseech Thee

to impress upon my heart

lively sentiments of faith,

hope and charity,

with true repentance for my sins

and a most firm desire of amendment.

 

Whilst with deep affection and grief of soul

I consider within myself

and mentally contemplate

Thy five most precious wounds,

having before mine eyes that which David,

the prophet, long ago spoke concerning Thee,

“They have pierced My hands and My feet,

they have numbered all My bones."

AMEN

The Real Issue with Catholic Doctrine

Easter is only a couple of weeks away now, and this Easter will mark the second anniversary of God graciously receiving me and my wife into His Holy Catholic Church. Although I have only been Catholic for two years, both my hands would not be enough to count the number of debates that I have had with Protestants regarding what the Catholic Church REALLY teaches. And in every single debate, the thing that I encounter, without fail, is that Protestants have been grossly misinformed about Catholic doctrine.

In fact, just this week, I came across a Protestant gentleman (no doubt well-meaning) who purported that the Catholic Church uses the Rosary in an attempt to subversively teach her faithful that Jesus is dead and Mary is alive! This is based on the underlying (false) assumption that Catholics place Mary on a higher level than Jesus Christ. The allegation is that because a set of Rosary beads contains a Crucifix (a Cross with an image of the Crucified Jesus) this is meant to show that the Catholic Church really wants Catholics to believe that whilst Jesus is still dead on the Cross, Mary is our only hope because she is alive and in Heaven.  

Of course, if you are Catholic, you are probably shaking your head in disbelief, because one of the greatest truths we hold to as Catholics is that Jesus Christ did not only die on the Cross for our sins; but three days later, He rose again according to the Scriptures. In fact, that is ultimately what this whole Lenten season is about. It is about preparing us for Easter – which is the Church’s greatest feast because in it we celebrate the Resurrection of our Blessed Lord! Not only that, but for us Catholics, every Sunday is a Resurrection Sunday – which is precisely why we don’t worship on Saturday, the Old Covenant Sabbath.

Right now you might be wondering where I am going with this. Tomorrow is the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, and the Gospel reading will be taken from Lk 1:26-38. As I was reading this passage earlier today, one verse in particular struck me as being the real (albeit subconscious) issue that Protestants have with Catholic doctrine (even after you have cleared up all their misconceptions).

In Luke 1:37, the Angel Gabriel declares to Mary: “With God nothing will be impossible.”

It’s that simple. Everything that we as Catholics believe ultimately comes down to this one point – NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

You don’t believe that in the Eucharist the bread and wine are transformed into the Real Body and Blood of Jesus? NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

You don’t believe that in matters of faith and morals, the Pope cannot teach error? NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

You don’t believe that the waters of Baptism wash away our sins? NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

You don’t believe that Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin? NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

You don’t believe that the Catholic Church has remained faithful to the teachings of Jesus handed down through the Apostles? NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD! 

You see? The issue is always the same. Before everything else, the real question that we all need to answer is this: “Do we believe in the power of God?”

And by God’s grace, may our response always imitate that of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Let it be done according to Thy word”.

Good Works are God's Grace

The readings for this past Sunday (Fourth Week of Lent) were 2 Chron 36:14-16, 19-23; Eph 2:4-10; and Jn 3:14-21. Upon first glance, the common thread between these three readings might not be completely evident. For ease of reference, here are the readings:

2 Chron 36:14-16, 19-23

In those days, all the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people
added infidelity to infidelity,
practicing all the abominations of the nations
and polluting the LORD's temple
which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.
Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers,
send his messengers to them,
for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place.
But they mocked the messengers of God,
despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets,
until the anger of the LORD against his people was so inflamed
that there was no remedy.
Their enemies burnt the house of God,
tore down the walls of Jerusalem,
set all its palaces afire,
and destroyed all its precious objects.
Those who escaped the sword were carried captive to Babylon,
where they became servants of the king of the Chaldeans and his sons
until the kingdom of the Persians came to power.
All this was to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah:
"Until the land has retrieved its lost sabbaths,
during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest
while seventy years are fulfilled."
In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia,
in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah,
the LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia
to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom,
both by word of mouth and in writing:
"Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia:
All the kingdoms of the earth
the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me,
and he has also charged me to build him a house
in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people,
let him go up, and may his God be with him!"

Eph 2:4-10

Brothers and sisters:
God, who is rich in mercy,
because of the great love he had for us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions,
brought us to life with Christ - by grace you have been saved -,
raised us up with him,
and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,
that in the ages to come
He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace
in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not from you; it is the gift of God;
it is not from works, so no one may boast.
For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works
that God has prepared in advance,
that we should live in them.

Jn 3:14-21

Jesus said to Nicodemus:
"Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world,
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

In the first reading, we read that Cyrus, king of Persia, decreed that the Israelites were to go and rebuild their temple in Jerusalem – which had previously been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. But what is particularly important about his decree is that Cyrus emphatically states that his directive came from God Himself.

In the second reading, St. Paul reminds us that we are saved by faith through nothing other than God’s grace. In other words, we are not saved by our own works. Now, this isn’t the same as saying that we are saved by faith ALONE apart from works, as suggested by Martin Luther (and subsequent Protestantism) because St. James clearly taught that faith alone is dead if it is apart from works (Jms 2:14-26). Ultimately, faith and works go hand in hand. So what is St. Paul saying here? He is saying that we are saved by God’s grace through faith and that the purpose of God’s redeeming us in Christ is so that we might live lives filled with good works (making good works coupled with our faith necessary for our salvation).

Finally, in the Gospel reading we are told that those who live the truth live in the light because they are not ashamed of their good works being made manifest. But, that’s not all that St. John tells us. He says that the good works of those following Christ are “clearly seen as done in God”. All the good works that we as Christians perform are done in God – this is because it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in and through us (Gal 2:20).

In light of the above, what we see Holy Church trying to remind us of is that any good works we do are done only by the grace of God working in our lives. Faith and works are necessary for salvation – but we need always to remember that faith and works are both gifts from God – and that is why St. Paul tells us that we can’t boast in ourselves, but rather that our boast should be in God and God alone.

St. Augustine put it this way:

“Grace has gone before us; now we are given what is due...Our merits are God’s gifts.”

The Council of Trent affirmed this when it stated:

“The merits of our good works are gifts of the divine goodness.”

It is no mistake or coincidence that the Church has declared the above passages to be the Scripture readings for the Fourth Sunday of Lent either. Because it marks the mid-point of Lent, it is a good opportunity to reflect on how we have been tracking in our Lenten commitments. For some of us, it might mean that we haven’t been as faithful as we would’ve liked and so it becomes an opportunity to redouble our efforts going forward. For others, it might mean that we can look back at a fairly successful Lent so far – but before we start to think too highly of ourselves, these readings come as a timely reminder that if we have been faithful in our Lenten commitments, it is only because we have been co-operating with God’s grace in our lives – and His grace is the ultimate source of all the good works that we do.

So, at this mid-point in the Lenten season, let us keep praying for one another. We should especially take the time to thank God for the ways that we have been faithful thus far, and ask Him to continue to help us in to be faithful in the remainder of our Lenten journey towards Easter.

And last, but certainly not least, let’s not forget that we have God’s great gift of the Saints in Heaven, and especially our Blessed Mother Mary, whom we can ask for help as well. As the great cloud of witnesses that have gone before us and know our struggles, they love us and want to see us succeed in our walk with God. So, may we never cease to ask them for their intercession on our behalf before the Throne of Grace.

The Faithful Tenant

In Matthew 21:33-43 our Lord preaches the parable of the Vineyard and the Wicked Tenants. As our parish priest pointed out in his homily this morning, this parable is ultimately about just how forgiving and patient God is.

The first verses of the parable make it clear that the parable is an allusion to Isa 5:1-7 where the Lord tells the nation of Israel that despite all He has done for them, they continue to reject Him and that this would lead to their desolation.

Jesus’ parable emphasises that God was indeed extremely long-suffering with the nation of Israel. Although they repeatedly broke God’s covenant through their idolatry and rejection of Him, God sent many prophets to shepherd them back to faithfulness (Matt 21:35-36). Yet they continued to reject God and His call of repentance.

This ongoing rejection finally culminated when the leaders of Israel conspired to have the Son of God crucified (vv37-39; Acts 2:22-23). There could be no greater rejection of God than wanting Him dead, and given this, God would have been completely justified in turning His back on all of humanity and leaving us to our own devices which would ultimately end in our own self-destruction. But thanks be to God – where sin abounded, God’s grace abounded even more!!!  

In verse 41 we see that the Kingdom is taken away from the nation of Israel and given to those who will be faithful in bringing forth its fruit. Whilst it doesn’t appear so at first glance, this really is an act of God’s profound and unrestrained mercy – because God takes the Kingdom away from the nation of Israel and expands it to include all the nations (Gal 3:28). The beauty of the Kingdom of God is that it is not limited to one nation; rather it is global, it is universal, it is Catholic!

Another point to notice is that, by the way our Lord presents the parable, it is clear that this “new phase” of the Kingdom will never be reversed. We are continually reminded throughout the Scriptures that with the New Covenant God would also give His people the means to be faithful in keeping the covenant. Unlike Old Israel, who constantly stumbled and broke covenant with God, the Church – New Israel (Gal 6:16) – will remain faithful to God’s covenant forever (Jer 31:31-34). Unlike Israel of old, there isn’t any prophecy in all of Scripture which speaks of the Church ever breaking covenant with God. Instead, the Scriptures are emphatically clear that the Church will ALWAYS remain faithful. This is not because Christians are such wonderful people – it is because God has sent His Holy Spirit to lead and guide the Church into all truth (Jn 16:13).

This is one reason why we should never be ashamed of being Catholic. Despite all the attacks made against the Church by non-Catholics (Christian or otherwise), we can rest assured that the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church that Jesus established on the Rock of St. Peter will always stand firm (Matt 16:18).

The Catholic Church is the new and faithful tenant of Jesus’ parable; and by God’s grace and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, she will always bring forth the fruits that God requires – the fruit of obedience which leads to eternal life.

One final point – coming back to the parable being about God’s unfathomable forgiveness...

Whilst not explicitly stated by our Lord Jesus in this parable, God is not done with Old Israel. St. Paul tells us in Rom 11:31 that through the ministry of the Church God will show mercy to Israel and graft them back into the Vine of the Body of Christ.

The Image and Likeness of God

I was having a discussion with my dad yesterday about whether the Angel of the Lord broke the 5th commandment (You shall not murder) in putting to death the all the firstborn  in Egypt who did not partake of the Passover (see Ex 12). We agreed that the simple answer is that God alone has the right to give and take life, and in committing murder, we become guilty of “playing God”. But even more than that, God’s own reason to Noah for condemning murder was that He created mankind in His own image (Gen 9:6). This is an allusion to Gen 1:26 where God says “Let us make man to our image and likeness”.

I remember in my pre-Catholic days as a Calvinist, I wondered how it was possible for mankind to be “TOTALLY depraved” (as John Calvin taught) and at the same time remain “in the image of God”. Of course, looking back, I now see that Calvin’s notion of total depravity was wrong; however, the question still remains of the effects of the Fall upon the image and likeness of God in us.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives us a good answer to the question when it says:

Disfigured by sin and death, man remains “in the image of God” ... but is deprived “of the glory of God” [Rom 3:23] of his “likeness”.  CCC # 705

In other words, when God created mankind, He created us in His image AND likeness, but as a result of the Fall, whilst we retained His image, we lost His likeness (or His glory). And it is this likeness which our Lord Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, came to restore. He gave Himself for us so that we might again become partakers of God’s divine nature (2 Pet 1:4). The Church Fathers understood this concept all too well. For example, St. Athanasius tells us that “the Son of God became man so that we might become God” (On the Incarnation; Chap 54:3).

Our Lord accomplishes this “divinization” in us by the means of the Sacraments. The very first step is our baptism in which all our sins (original and actual) are washed away and we are born again (Acts 2:38; 22:16; Jn 3:5; Tit 3:5). This change is so real that not only are we merely called children of God, but we are IN FACT children of God (1 Jn 3:1).

The Catechism reminds us of this when it says that “the Holy Spirit begins the restoration to man of the “divine likeness” through the new birth of “baptism in water and the Spirit” (CCC # 720).

Of course, the pinnacle, the summit, of our partaking of the divine nature takes place in the greatest way when we receive our Lord Jesus Christ, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Most Holy Eucharist. Each time we receive our Lord in Holy Communion, we are changed little by little; being slowly but surely transformed and conformed into His image and likeness (Rom 8:29; 2 Cor 3:18). As St. Augustine said:

“I [the Lord] am the food of strong men; grow and you shall feed on me; nor shall you change me, like the food of your flesh into yourself, but you shall be changed into my likeness.” Confessions; Book 7, Chap 10.

I don’t know about you, but for me, this is such an awesome thought - even though we were the ones who sinned and fell away from God, He who is rich in love and mercy condescends to us and meets us where we are, so that we might be restored to complete communion with Him, as He intended when He first created us. Thanks be to God!!!

The Old Testament Image of God???

I have increasingly been coming across people who declare that the God of the Old Testament is different the God of the New Testament. Reading things like the wars of the people of Israel and the imprecatory Psalms, they maintain that the God of the Old Testament was a harsh Judge seeking vengeance.  On the other hand, they claim that with the coming of Christ a new image of God emerges – a God of love and compassion. And so they conclude that the God of the Old Testament is different to the God of the New Testament.

Alternatively, they might sometimes suggest that the Old Testament, consisting of the writings of men, does not necessarily present the correct image of God; but rather, they claim that the God portrayed in the Old Testament is based on a perception of God which then needed to change with the coming of Christ.

Given that I have been coming across this interpretation more regularly, I thought that it might be a good opportunity to blog on the topic. Personally, I believe that these views are mistaken, and here are just a few of my reasons why…

Whilst the Old Testament Scriptures were written by men based on their own intellect and perception of God, sometimes we can tend to forget that they were men who were ultimately guided by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1:21). St. Paul was so convinced of this truth that he goes so far as to tell us that the Old Testament Scriptures were breathed by God (2 Tim 3:16).

As Christians, with our roots in the Jewish religion, we believe that there is only one God (Deut 6:4) and together with them we worship this one true God. And since God cannot change (Heb 13:8; Jms 1:17), we need to accept that in the Scriptures we are not being presented with two opposing “Gods” or even two opposing views of God.

As noted above, there is a tendency to think of the Old Testament as showing a God that is harsh; whereas the New Testament shows God as loving, merciful, and compassionate. However, I don’t think that this tendency has any real Scriptural validity. Here are some examples:

1)      In the New Testament, “Hell” (or “Gehenna”) is mentioned 23 times, or which 16 times it is from the lips of our Lord.

2)      The New Testament contains the incident where Ananias and Sapphira died because they presumed to lie to the Holy Spirit (see Acts 5:1-11).

3)      Rev 6:9-10 speaks of the Martyrs in heaven who cry out for God’s vengeance (an allusion to the imprecatory Psalms).

4)      The author of Hebrews quotes the Old Testament when he tells us that as Christians we should expect discipline from the Lord as from a Father (Heb 12:5ff; Deut 8:5). Furthermore, consider that the author also tells us that our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29). He mentions this in context of the events on Mt Sinai where the people told Moses that they were afraid to approach the Lord in fear of being consumed (Deut 5:25), and God’s own response to Moses was that the Israelites were right in thinking this (Deut 5:28).

The point of the above examples is not to show that God is full of vengeance waiting for every opportunity to spring judgment on sinners. On the contrary, God is Love (1 Jn 4:16) and He is not willing that any should perish (2 Pet 3:9); instead He showed us His perfect love by giving us His only Son to make atonement for our sins (Jn 3:16). My point is that the New Testament image of God is not different from the Old Testament because the New Testament echoes the Old when it unashamedly reminds us that God is holy and does indeed judge sin.

Now, what about the Old Testament? Is it really true that the Old Testament paints God as harsh and unrelenting? Anyone who reads the Old Testament will actually find that the opposite is indeed true. The Old Testament constantly speaks of God’s mercy, grace, patience and love. If this were not true, the Lord Jesus Christ could never be the eminent image of God’s love and also be the fulfilment of the Scriptures at the same time.

We also need to remember that in the earliest days of the Church, the only Scriptures that the Christians had were the Old Testament writings; and it was on the foundation of these writings that the New Testament Scriptures emerged within the Christian tradition. It was because the Old Testament constantly revealed God’s love that the New Testament writers were able to see that love fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, for us to be able to see the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, we need to remain within the stream of our Catholic Tradition of reading the Old and New Testaments as a unified whole:

"The Old Testament is an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture. Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value, for the Old Covenant has never   been revoked.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Art. 121)

Conversely, to depart from this Catholic Tradition would be to lose sight of the Lord Jesus, because as St. Jerome reminds us: “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ”.

Icon of the Trinity

I was recently introduced to the Icon of the Trinity (pictured above). The icon was painted early in the 15^th century by Andrei Rublev, an Eastern Orthodox iconographer.

The person who introduced this icon to me commented that nothing is wasted in an icon. The more I become familiar with icons, the more I am learning the truth of this. As I remarked in a recent blog on the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, icons are wonderful because the more time you spend reflectively gazing at them, the more you learn from them. They really are the Scriptures in visual form. As such, there is so much we can learn from them.

The basis of the Icon of the Trinity is Genesis 18:1ff where we read the account of the LORD appearing to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre in the form of three men. Thus on one level, the icon is an historical depiction of this event – you can notice the oak tree and, I would hazard to guess, Abraham’s house in the background providing the historical setting.

But, as is always the case, the significance of the icon is only really appreciated when we take a deeper look. One understanding of this event is that the three men were a Theophany i.e. that this was a revelation of the Blessed Trinity in the Old Testament. It is this interpretation that the icon picks up.

Because there is so much to learn through the various icons, I thought that I would share just a few thoughts on the icon and leave the rest to you as you meditate upon it…

Firstly, notice that there are three figures, but that they are all identical in size and appearance. This points to the fundamental truth of the Trinity – that there is but one God in three “hypostasis” (or persons as we like to say). Each “person” of the Trinity is equally God. This is why each of the figures is wearing a blue garment and each is holding a sceptre – to picture that each is equally Divine. The posture of the figures is quite telling. The Son and the Holy Spirit have their heads tilted and their eyes fixed upon the Father, which speaks of their respective roles in the Trinity. The position of the Son’s hand is positioned in a way that reminds us that He has two natures – human and divine.

But without going into much more detail regarding the icon (I will leave that to you and your own reflections), I do want to touch on the thing that was probably the most special for me…and that is the chalice which is filled with the Precious Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (remembering that this is an Eastern icon, and the practise in the East is to have the Precious Body and Blood mingled in the chalice). The Son has given His blood (indicated by the colour of His robe), and this is now being offered to the viewer, which is clear by the position of the chalice on the table i.e. it is at the point closest to the viewer. But if this is not enough to get his point across, the iconographer highlights the fact by depicting the three figures in the shape of a chalice showing that in the chalice, God is doing nothing less than offering us His very own self.

And that is the wonder and mystery of the Eucharist. Through Holy Communion, we really and truly share in the Divine life of God Almighty…and as we partake of His Divinity, we are changed more and more into His likeness.

Now, isn’t that amazing?