-tabernacle of the Israelites in Exodus -God “pitching His tent” among His people in Exodus
“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.”
-Ex 34:29-30
-by Br Justin Mary Bolger, OP
“Man seeks to dwell. There’s even a magazine dedicated to it. We want some place to identify as home. And we don’t just want any old four walls and a floor. We want an architecturally pleasing place. And then we want to decorate it: find a color scheme that works for the walls, hang paintings, hang pictures, install some wainscoting, find rugs that really tie the rooms together. Having a home and making it beautiful are natural human instincts.
We decorate our homes to reflect our tastes and style. But we also decorate according to seasons. So, it’s Christmas…almost. We’ve bought (or unpacked) the evergreen, the lights, the manger scene, red ribbons, holly, and probably some good old-fashioned Christmas kitsch as well. And after some work, our homes are prepared – prepared for us, and for the holiday parties and extended family visits.
In Advent we emphasize preparation for the Lord. What does this really mean? We decorate our churches in much the same way we do our homes. We use evergreen, lights, and manger scenes. We do this as preparation for our Lord’s coming on Christmas day. But in addition to providing an aesthetically pleasing experience, this effort to make beautiful living and worship spaces is symbolic. It is there to remind us of something – of Someone.
The Word dwelt among us. Or rather, Christ “pitched his tent,” if we want a more biblically connotative translation of “dwelt.” This reminds us of the “tent of meeting” where God came to meet Moses and the Israelites in the desert. Now when Jesus came he did live somewhere. He had a home, just like us. I’m sure Mary and Joseph, once they settled in Nazareth, spruced up their modest home as well as they could. But a deeper point to the Incarnation, this divine tenting, is that the eternal Word took on human nature. Human nature was the home for God. And this humanity, united to God, was filled with the Holy Spirit. As Benedict XVI writes, “The man Jesus is the dwelling-place of the Word.” Jesus shows us the graced fullness of human life in Himself. He shows us that man is meant to live in this grace.
The “tent of meeting” of the Israelites, our homes, our churches – these are all realities that point to something greater. We prepare our homes and churches to remind us that we ourselves are a dwelling place of the Lord. Jesus did not just come once. He comes again and again to each of us. God indwells in the baptized. We especially receive this coming and its effects through the Eucharist. He is present to us in an unimaginably close way in this indwelling. And God changes and moves us by his grace.(Ed….if only we would realize, if only we would pause and take notice! The reason people, mostly, hate silence is that He is calling to us in that silence, deafeningly!!! Will we hear? Will we obey? He will not force us. He will only invite, usually quietly, softly, gently, lovingly, just like the Lover in Song of Songs. He will not violate our free will, for there is not true love without free will. Or, will we merely try to drown Him out again with drugs, alcohol, pornography, lust, ceaseless entertainment, acquisition and activity? 🙁 )
But we can become forgetful of this presence. We can be distracted from that loving call, proposed by the Church in her different seasons – especially Advent – to prepare ourselves for the Lord (Ed. ..towards Whom we are all racing for judgment.) Christ dwelt among us as man. And He still dwells in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul asks in 1 Corinthians, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God?” This is a good question to ask leading up to Christmas day.
Man seeks to dwell in an earthly home. But God seeks to dwell in man. God came as man so that we could be raised to God. May we prepare our souls for this coming like we prepare our places of living and worship. The lights, the evergreen – these ultimately point to the true light, the ever-new Christ Who comes to us again this Christmas.
You are a home. Prepare the way.”
“And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.” -Eph 2:22
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.” -Rev 21:3
Love & excitedly waiting for Him, all the days of my life,
Matthew
Summa Catechetica, "Neque enim quaero intelligere ut credam, sed credo ut intelligam." – St Anselm, "“Si comprehendus, non est Deus.” -St Augustine, "Let your religion be less of a theory, and more of a love affair." -G.K. Chesterton, “When we pray we speak to God; but when we read, God speaks to us.” -St Jerome, "As the reading of bad books fills the mind with worldly and poisonous sentiments; so, on the other hand, the reading of pious works fills the soul with holy thoughts and good desires." -St. Alphonsus Liguori, "And above all, be on your guard not to want to get anything done by force, because God has given free will to everyone and wants to force no one, but only proposes, invites and counsels." –St. Angela Merici, “Yet such are the pity and compassion of this Lord of ours, so desirous is He that we should seek Him and enjoy His company, that in one way or another He never ceases calling us to Him . . . God here speaks to souls through words uttered by pious people, by sermons or good books, and in many other such ways.” —St. Teresa of Avila, "I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men and women who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, and who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it. I want an intelligent, well-instructed laity… I wish you to enlarge your knowledge, to cultivate your reason, to get an insight into the relation of truth to truth, to learn to view things as they are, to understand how faith and reason stand to each other, what are the bases and principles of Catholicism, and where lie the main inconsistences and absurdities of the Protestant theory.” (St. John Henry Newman, “Duties of Catholics Towards the Protestant View,” Lectures on the Present Position of Catholics in England), "We cannot always have access to a spiritual Father for counsel in our actions and in our doubts, but reading will abundantly supply his place by giving us directions to escape the illusions of the devil and of our own self-love, and at the same time to submit to the divine will.” —St. Alphonsus Ligouri, "The harm that comes to souls from the lack of reading holy books makes me shudder . . . What power spiritual reading has to lead to a change of course, and to make even worldly people enter into the way of perfection." –St. Padre Pio, "Screens may grab our attention, but books change our lives!" – Word on Fire, "Reading has made many saints!" -St Josemaría Escrivá, "Do you pray? You speak to the Bridegroom. Do you read? He speaks to you." —St. Jerome, from his Letter 22 to Eustochium, "Encounter, not confrontation; attraction, not promotion; dialogue, not debate." -cf Pope Francis, "God here speaks to souls through…good books“ – St Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, "You will not see anyone who is really striving after his advancement who is not given to spiritual reading. And as to him who neglects it, the fact will soon be observed by his progress.” -St Athanasius, "To convert someone, go and take them by the hand and guide them." -St Thomas Aquinas, OP. 1 saint ruins ALL the cynicism in Hell & on Earth. “When we pray we talk to God; when we read God talks to us…All spiritual growth comes from reading and reflection.” -St Isidore of Seville, “Also in some meditations today I earnestly asked our Lord to watch over my compositions that they might do me no harm through the enmity or imprudence of any man or my own; that He would have them as His own and employ or not employ them as He should see fit. And this I believe is heard.” -GM Hopkins, SJ, "Only God knows the good that can come about by reading one good Catholic book." — St. John Bosco, "Why don't you try explaining it to them?" – cf St Peter Canisius, SJ, Doctor of the Church, Doctor of the Catechism, "Already I was coming to appreciate that often apologetics consists of offering theological eye glasses of varying prescriptions to an inquirer. Only one prescription will give him clear sight; all the others will give him at best indistinct sight. What you want him to see—some particular truth of the Faith—will remain fuzzy to him until you come across theological eye glasses that precisely compensate for his particular defect of vision." -Karl Keating, "The more perfectly we know God, the more perfectly we love Him." -St Thomas Aquinas, OP, ST, I-II,67,6 ad 3, “But always when I was without a book, my soul would at once become disturbed, and my thoughts wandered." —St. Teresa of Avila, "Let those who think I have said too little and those who think I have said too much, forgive me; and let those who think I have said just enough thank God with me." –St. Augustine, "Without good books and spiritual reading, it will be morally impossible to save our souls." —St. Alphonsus Liguori "Never read books you aren't sure about. . . even supposing that these bad books are very well written from a literary point of view. Let me ask you this: Would you drink something you knew was poisoned just because it was offered to you in a golden cup?" -St. John Bosco " To teach in order to lead others to faith is the task of every preacher and of each believer." —St. Thomas Aquinas, OP. "Prayer purifies us, reading instructs us. Both are good when both are possible. Otherwise, prayer is better than reading." –St. Isidore of Seville “The aid of spiritual books is for you a necessity.… You, who are in the midst of battle, must protect yourself with the buckler of holy thoughts drawn from good books.” -St. John Chrysostom
