Meditation 9
The Spiritual Construction of the Sanctuary
Moses could certainly
say, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” (Ps 119.
105). We can maintain the same regarding St. Paul because he was the
greatest tent maker ever in this earthly Tabernacle of ours down here –
the Militant Church. Thus he led the foundation stones of the spiritual
Tabernacle – the Church – and worked also as a tent maker for his daily
bread (Ac 18. 3). Thus James the apostle could truly say when he
defended St. Paul at the first Church council in Jerusalem for bringing
the glad tidings to the gentiles,
All these saintly men of God realized the meaning behind following words of the Spirit, “If Yahweh does not build a house in vain do its builders toil. If Yahweh does not guard a city in vain does its guards watch” (Ps 127. 1). Moses followed God's instructions regarding the building of the Sanctuary of the Tabernacle carefully and exposed its plan so explicitly for Bezalel and Oholiab that they were able to supervise the building work. God “endowed” them on His behalf with “skill” and “stirred their hearts to come forward and do the work” (Ex 36. 2, 3). The same applies to us when we follow God's precepts and He will endow us with all spiritual discrimination to raise the Sanctuary in our own hearts as it is His Sacred Way to salvation through the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ as the “Way; Truth and Life” (Jn 14. 6).
After this circumambulation round the Sanctuary we know where we can find it, that is, in our own hearts. Let us say that the craftsmen Bezalel and Oholiab represents our body and spirit,
But we must be on our guard against the enemy of our salvation as Abba Isaac emphasized by one of his parables,
The fact that the disease of worldly vanity of the glory of the flesh can get hold of our hearts and blind our souls should urge us to look rather to the Sacred Way God has staked out for us before the foundation of the world (see Ep 1. 4) and the enemy of our salvation hates, as it is the Way of Life and the opposite of his Way of death.
Simeon has reported
how God first visited the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for
his name. This agrees with the words of the prophets. As it is written,
'After these things I will return. I will again build the Tent of
David, which has fallen. I will again build its ruins. I will set it
up: That the rest of men may seek after the Lord; All the Gentiles who
are called by my name, Says the Lord (Ac 15. 14-17).
All these saintly men of God realized the meaning behind following words of the Spirit, “If Yahweh does not build a house in vain do its builders toil. If Yahweh does not guard a city in vain does its guards watch” (Ps 127. 1). Moses followed God's instructions regarding the building of the Sanctuary of the Tabernacle carefully and exposed its plan so explicitly for Bezalel and Oholiab that they were able to supervise the building work. God “endowed” them on His behalf with “skill” and “stirred their hearts to come forward and do the work” (Ex 36. 2, 3). The same applies to us when we follow God's precepts and He will endow us with all spiritual discrimination to raise the Sanctuary in our own hearts as it is His Sacred Way to salvation through the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ as the “Way; Truth and Life” (Jn 14. 6).
After this circumambulation round the Sanctuary we know where we can find it, that is, in our own hearts. Let us say that the craftsmen Bezalel and Oholiab represents our body and spirit,
Now that you are on
the road and know the name of the place you are bound for, begin to go
forward on your journey. Your going forth is nothing else but the work
of the spirit – and the body as well, when there is need for it – which
you are to use with discretion in the following way. Whatever work it
is that you should do, in body or in spirit, according to the degree
and state in which you stand, if it helps this grace given desire that
you have to love Jesus, making it more whole, easier and more powerful
for all virtues and all goodness, that is the work I consider the best,
whether it is prayer, meditation, reading or working; and as long as
that task strengthen your heart and will for love of Jesus and draws
your affection and your thought farthest from worldly vanities, it is
good yo use it. [1]
But we must be on our guard against the enemy of our salvation as Abba Isaac emphasized by one of his parables,
For when one very
highly esteemed Elder was passing by the cell of a certain brother . .
. he watched him from a distance breaking a very hard stone with a
heavy hammer, and saw a certain Ethiopian standing over him and
together with him striking the blows of the hammer with joined and
clasped hands, and urging him on with fiery incitements to diligence in
the work: and so he stood still for a long while in astonishment at the
force of the fierce demon and the deceitfulness of such an illusion.
For when the brother was worn out and tired and wanted to rest and put an end to his toil, he was stimulated by the spirit's prompting and urged on to resume his hammer again and not to cease from devoting himself to the work which he had begun, so that being unweariedly supported by his incitements he did not feel the harm that so great labor was doing him. At last then the old man, disgusted at such a horrid mystification by a demon, turned aside to the brother's cell and saluted him, and asked “what work is it, brother, that you are doing?” and he replied: “We are working at this awfully hard stone, and we can hardly break it at all.” Whereupon the Elder replied: “You were right in saying `we can,' for you were not alone, when you were striking it, but there was another with you whom you did not see, who was standing over you not so much to help you as urge you on with all his force. [2]
For when the brother was worn out and tired and wanted to rest and put an end to his toil, he was stimulated by the spirit's prompting and urged on to resume his hammer again and not to cease from devoting himself to the work which he had begun, so that being unweariedly supported by his incitements he did not feel the harm that so great labor was doing him. At last then the old man, disgusted at such a horrid mystification by a demon, turned aside to the brother's cell and saluted him, and asked “what work is it, brother, that you are doing?” and he replied: “We are working at this awfully hard stone, and we can hardly break it at all.” Whereupon the Elder replied: “You were right in saying `we can,' for you were not alone, when you were striking it, but there was another with you whom you did not see, who was standing over you not so much to help you as urge you on with all his force. [2]
The fact that the disease of worldly vanity of the glory of the flesh can get hold of our hearts and blind our souls should urge us to look rather to the Sacred Way God has staked out for us before the foundation of the world (see Ep 1. 4) and the enemy of our salvation hates, as it is the Way of Life and the opposite of his Way of death.