You and the ark of your strength
by Fr Leon Pereira
O.P.
When you receive a
gift, are you the sort of person who keeps the box? A child's instinct seems
correct: to tear off the coverings and get at the gift, for it is the gift that
matters. But if you had a truly special gift, from someone special, you might
be tempted to keep the box as well for sentimental reasons.
But what if the gift
and the giver were God himself? What would you do with the box?
In his Gospel, Luke
presents Mary as a box. To be precise, he portrays Mary as the ark of the
covenant, as that box-like container which held the Ten Commandments inscribed
in stone.
The ark held three
things which are all symbols of Jesus. First, the Ten Commandments, the
foundation of God's covenant with his people. But Jesus is the mediator of the
new and eternal covenant (Heb 9:15). Second, manna, the bread from heaven with
which God fed his people in the desert. But Jesus is the true and living bread
from heaven (John 6:48-50). Third, Aaron's staff which budded and flowered, a
symbol of Aaron being chosen as priest. But Jesus is the great High Priest, the
Shoot sprouting from the stump of Jesse (Isa 11:1).
Just as the contents of
the ark prefigure Jesus, so the ark itself prefigures Mary. The ark contained
the old covenant, but in her womb Mary carried the New Covenant.
As the ark was
overshadowed by the divine glory (Ex 40:34), so Mary is overshadowed by the
'power of the Most High' (Lk 1:35). King David leapt and danced before the ark
(2 Sam 6:12-6), and likewise John the Baptist leaps in his mother's womb at
Mary's greeting. The ark stayed for three months at the house of Obed-Edom,
causing an increased fecundity in that family (2 Sam 6:11). Mary stays with Elizabeth
Faced with the ark,
David said,
Who am I that the ark
of the Lord should come to me? (2 Sam 6:9)
Likewise Elizabeth
Who am I that the
mother of my Lord should come to me? (Lk 1:43)
In the first reading,
the ark is seen in heaven, juxtaposed with the woman clothed with the sun, the
woman who gives birth to the Word of God. Mary is truly seen as a new ark, the
ark of the new and eternal covenant.
The loss of the
original ark was a great blow to the people of Israel
In Jesus, God is
present in a truly special way. For in Jesus, the fullness of the divinity
dwells bodily. Jesus is God-made-man, and so in Mary, the ark of the new
covenant, God is fully present in space and time. Mary is the guarantee of the
reality that God has become a human being, that God is present to his people --
and this time forever.
Since the covenant of
our salvation is eternal, it is fitting that the ark of this new covenant
should not be lost as the old one was. Mary, as the new ark, is removed from
the caprices and changeability of the earth, and placed as a celestial witness
of the fulfilment of God's faithfulness to his covenant.
But Our Lady is more
than a box. She is a human being, and a thoroughly redeemed one. In her
God has achieved perfectly what he desires for us all.
Mary represents the
people of God through the ages. She is the Virgin Daughter of Sion, longing for
the coming of the Lord. She is the Church, the bride washed clean without spot
or wrinkle.
In her, God has
triumphed utterly over sin and death, as a foretaste of that same victory which
he will achieve in us all who hope in his mercy. In her at least one part of
the Church already shares completely in the triumph of Christ. In Christ, God's
gift of himself to us is so special, that even the box it comes in is worth
keeping and glorifying.
Published with the kind permission of www.torch.op.org
Mary was the first Tabernacle. She told me.
ReplyDeleteI heard a woman's voice inwardly during the consecration at Mass a few years ago say "I was the first tabernacle". I didn't understand what it meant at the time. She was the first person to literally 'house' Jesus. Amazing Grace!