In its
extreme beauty, the Sanctuary was “a copy of the holy Tent which You
prepared at the beginning” (Ws 9. 8). This was God's
“purpose and pleasure to the praise of the glory of His grace” (Ep 1.
6). This divine predestination lived in the heart of the Holy Trinity
“before the world was made” (Ep 1. 4). God emphasized so much that
Moses made “a sanctuary so that I can reside with them. You will make
it all according to the design for the Dwelling and the design for its
furnishing which I shall now show you (Ex 25. 8, 9).
In accordance with the Bible, we can learn
to know God by a fourfold methodology or means, that is, (a) through
meditating upon creation; (b) through the grades of perfection; (c)
through the testimony of our conscience and lastly (d) by following
God's sacred symbols as revealed in the Art Gallery of the Holy Spirit
in the Scriptures. By the illumination of the Holy Spirit and the
celestial hierarchies they become literally speaking instrumental signs or pointers to God in the life of grace to His revealed truth as a
source of all justice, beauty and love. Thus we can avoid the sad state
St. Paul referred to in his letter to the Romans,
The
retribution of God from heaven is being revealed against the
ungodliness and injustice of human beings who in their injustice hold
back the truth. For what can be known about God is perfectly plain to
them, since God has made it plain to them: ever since the creation of
the world, the invisible existence of God and his everlasting power
have been clearly seen by the mind's understanding of created things.
And so these people have no excuse: they knew God and yet they did not
honor him as God or give thanks to him, but their arguments became
futile and their uncomprehending minds were darkened. What they claim
to be wise, in fact they were growing so stupid that they exchanged the
glory of the immortal God for an imitation, for the image of a mortal
human being, or of birds, or animals, or crawling things. That is why
God abandoned them in their inmost craving to filthy practices of
dishonoring their own bodies – because they exchanged God's truth for a
lie and have worshipped and served creature instead of a Creator, who
is blessed for ever. Amen (Rm 1. 18-25).
In contemporary times, mortal human beings
prefer images of measureless greed after money, power and the glory of
the flesh, which have replaced the ancient gods and goddesses of
paganism by inscrutable political leaders. Thus the Sanctuary of the
Tabernacle is the most precious sacred symbol we have received from God
in His inexhaustible mercy, and by contemplating the Sanctuary as a
prefiguration of the coming Church the words of Cardinal Newman are
fully realized,
This is the truth! God exists, He is here!
He is someone, a being so personal as I myself! He loves me. He calls
me.
