December 18, 2011 Mary – Ark of the New Covenant Fr. Mark Cherry
As we enter our final week of Advent preparation to celebrate the great feast of Christmas, the wonder of the Incarnation, God becoming man, taking on our human nature we hear the words of the angel Gabriel addressed to Mary, "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.'" How can we speak about the Incarnation without speaking about Mary, the one who by her fiat (yes) to God enabled the second person of the Blessed Trinity to take on flesh. Who is this woman Mary and why is she so special? We have to go back to the book of Genesis to begin to answer this question. After the fall God promises a messiah in Chapter 3:15 we read, "I will put enmity between you and the woman and between her offspring and yours; He will strike at your head while you strike at his heel" (proto-evangelium – first gospel). Mary is the woman, a particular woman God had in mind from all eternity through which He would bring His Son into the world to redeem fallen mankind. She is also the woman of Revelation chapter 12 who is involved with a great confrontation with the dragon. To begin to understand why Mary is so special, let us look at what "the ark" was that is referred to in our first reading that King David is bemoaning is in a tent while he lives in a palace. The Ark of the Covenant was the most sacred, revered object of religious worship for Israel. The ark contained the tablets with the law received by Moses, Aaron’s rod/staff and some of the manna from the wilderness. It represented the presence of God (glory –Shekinah) with His people. It was placed in the inner most part of the tent of meeting. The priests would carry when the Israelites went into battle (Josh. 6:1-27; 1 Sam. 4:4). Now the Israelites have entered the promise land and God has given King David rest from all their enemies. King David wants to build a suitable place to permanently house the Ark. It would be his son Solomon who would do that and the Ark was housed in the Holy of Holies where the high priest could only enter once a year. The Ark mysteriously disappeared after the destruction of Solomon’s temple.
It is what was contained in the Ark that is of great importance because of what they point to. The tablets with the law, Aaron’s rod and the manna from heaven all point to and find their ultimate meaning in Jesus Christ. They point to who He would be and what He would do. Jesus is the new lawgiver (Beatitudes), he is the true Bread that has come down from heaven and He is the miracle worker who liberates His people form the slavery of sin and the world and satisfies their thirst with rivers of living water –the Holy Spirit. It is Jesus is brings the glory of God, for John writes, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth" (Jn.1:14). It was the Blessed Virgin Mary who carried the Incarnate Word in her womb; the new lawgiver, the true bread from heaven and the one who by His miracles would give witness that the kingdom of God was at hand. Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant. This is why she is rightly revered, honored and loved by Catholics. She is rightly called the Mother of God, for her cousin Elizabeth inspired by the Holy Spirit exclaims, "And how has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" (Lk.1:43). To deny Mary the title of Mother of God is to really deny the Divinity of Christ. In the 4th century (428 AD) Nestorius, the patriarch of Constantinople, declared Mary should not be called the Mother of God. He eventually denied the Christ-child was God. The Church settled the issue in 431 AD at the Council of Ephesus – Theotokos.
We find many parallels in Scripture between the Ark in the OT and Mary in the NT (Ex. 40:32 & Lk. 1:35; 2 Sam. 6:9 & Lk. 1:43; 2 Sam. 6: 14-15 Lk. 1:44; 2 Sam. 6:11 & Lk. 1;56). One such parallel is where the Ark resided in the house of Obededom for three months on its way back to Jerusalem after having be captured by the Philistines (2 Sam. 6:11). His house was greatly blessed by the presence of the Ark. In Luke’s gospel we are told that after the angel Gabriel departed Mary made haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth in the hill country where she stayed for three months. At the greeting of Mary the child in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy. This Scripture is one of the strongest proofs of the truth of the constant teaching of the Church of the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. Why does John the Baptist leap for joy? What does John recognize in Mary’s womb? Did he recognise a zygote, an embryo, a fetus! – and that caused him to leap for joy. No, he recognizes a person – the second person of the Blessed Trinity, who became a human person at the moment of conception by the power of the Holy Spirit. When did Our Lady receive the singular grace which we call the Immaculate Conception – at the moment of her conception. There is only one question when it comes to the issue of abortion. What is it? Is it a person? The answer is yes, from the moment of conception, and therefore we can never take the life of an innocent person unique and separate from its mother.
If you still have doubts I invite you to read the testimony of Dr.Gloria Polo and see the indictment of the Lord when her life when she was examined up against the Fifth Commandment and her involvement in helping young girls obtain an abortion. After seeing the great evil she had co-operated with the Lord showed what happens at the moment of conception, how the soul is formed the moment the sperm impregnates the egg. She that God the Father gives that human being an eternal soul that is like a bright light, a beautiful spark with a plan and purpose. Every conception is in love because God who is love has allowed it to take place despite the human circumstances which may be far from what they ought to be. The good news is that there is forgiveness, mercy and healing in Jesus Christ. Gloria Polo received mercy and God will show His great mercy to anyone who turns to Him and asks for it and He will restore and heal.
Our Lady is the Ark of the New Covenant. She is the first to receive the merits of her Son’s saving sacrifice of the Cross she is the first to receive the grace of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit overshadowed her. The Church is first Marian before it is Petrine. She is the one who will lead her offspring in the "final confrontation" between the Church (the offspring of Mary through Jesus Christ her Son) and the dragon’s offspring. A confrontation I would say we are entering I our day. Just as the Ark of the Old Covenant led the Israelites into battle Our Lady leads he children into battle (True Devotion to Mary – St. Louis de Montfort). She has given us a great weapon to use in this battle and that is the Rosary. Mary is a mother who comforts and protects her children in adversity. She co-operates fully with her Son in this final confrontation and she promised in the end her Immaculate Heart would Triumph. When we pray the Rosary, Mary comes along side us and prays with us. She is here with us today. As we enter this last week of Advent preparation, let us ask Mary for the grace and joy, and perhaps repentance is needed before we can experience that joy; she will give us the grace for that if we need it. Let’s us take her into our homes and lives as our Mother. As we do that she will bestow abundant graces upon us this Christmas and in 2012.
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