Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to the Father, and
to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. I greet you
with joy on this feast day. Perhaps you caught
it last night and this morning. This main hymn,
the Traparian, tells us that today, this day,
is the prelude. You know what a prelude is? It's
the piece of music that comes before the opera
of the show. The prelude of the goodwill of God,
of the preaching of the salvation of mankind.
Salvation is central. Otherwise, what are we
doing here? And it says, the virgin appears in
the temple of God in anticipation. proclaiming
Christ to all. So we're contemplating how salvation
comes to mankind from God in this prelude of
this anticipation of the Virgin in the temple.
And salvation is the release from death, isn't
it? From all that fear and violence and hatred
and greed and anxiety and grief, so much grief.
Our loving God works all things for us carefully,
even day by day, throughout the centuries, carefully,
just as he cared for every aspect of the ark
and the building of the tent of testimony and
the temple itself. Nothing was left to chance.
Every type of wood was chosen by the Lord according
to the vision God instructed Moses when he was
on the mountain of Sinai and he beheld the mystical
temple. Our God is working all things for us
to release us from the slavery of sin which so
easily besets us, grabs a hold of us, compels
us. And we're contemplating today also why the
virgin child, a three -year -old, is part of
this amazing story. And she enters into the temple
of Jerusalem and runs up the 15 steps, never
looking back at her parents, and is prepared
there by God to be, just as she is in that place,
the holy of holies itself. Dwelling there, incredibly.
Strangely. And there was no ark there. There
was no tablets. There was no rod that budded.
There was no glory of God. The Holy of Holies
was absolutely empty. Totally empty. All this
is very strange. But God does things in a way.
Often that we don't like, that we would prefer
he did things another way, took it another direction,
solved things more quickly according to our vision
of things. But God does things in a way, as I
said, like he instructed Moses according to the
vision. I can't imagine that God would not take
the same care and he did. More, more care even
for his beloved Mary. who would give flesh to
the word of God, his eternal, his immortal son.
And I think of that original temple, and I contemplate
what that means just a little bit, how the glory
of God filled the house of the Lord. It was amazing.
It was dazzling, I'm sure. It was mystical. But
clearly, brothers and sisters, science and wonders
and miracles are not enough, not just to not
purify the soul, not to save us from sin, not
to overcome death. None of that will do it. And
when you read the Old Testament, it's absolutely
shocking. It's not a family book, some of it,
definitely. Solomon turned away from God, but
he's up there. I don't mean... Way up there,
maybe he is, but in the dome with a halo. So
he must have repented at the end. But his sons
turned away from God. They did evil in the sight
of God. Terrible idolatry, terrible sexual immorality,
abuse of the poor, and wars, civil wars that
followed, violence. The glory of God and the
temple of the Lord, smoke, incense. was not enough
to save anyone. It was a placeholder. It was
for something to come. Not enough, because that
temple, those temples, because there was more
than one, was just the sign, a foreshadowing
of something better to come. The making, if I
could use that word, the making of the temple,
of the womb of the virgin who learned in the
temple by being there what a temple should be.
That's why we spend so much time in church surrounded
by our beloved saints and the miracles and the
grace of God. She would become, her womb would
become the temple of him who said, destroy this
temple and I will raise it up in three days.
Our loving God who seeks peace and salvation
for us in our life. does things very quietly,
very unexpectedly. As I said, we're awfully disappointed
with his methods, and we often don't give thanks
to God in our trials, by which he's leading us
to our salvation. We want our human quick resolutions.
Our Lord seems to prefer what's ordinary, not
flashy, not well -known, not mighty, for God
has chosen the weak things of this world. And
by that accomplishes a hidden mystery ordained
before the ages. So it's a three -year -old child.
Like this one right here. Imagine. Beautiful.
Not anyone notable in the world who would be
prepared. That person would be prepared, married,
and shaped by the temple. And so now she points
to the Savior. We have that icon called the Origitria.
the one who points the way. And the saints now
compose hymns for her, which give comfort to
us in all our times of suffering and difficulty
and confusions. Words like this, rejoice container
of the uncontainable God, rejoice door of the
solemn mystery, rejoice all glorious temple of
him who is above the seraphim. But God is not
just working for her. It's not just one person.
We too receive all this that the feast has to
offer us and are reminded, along with those first
century Christians in Corinth who received St.
Paul's stern letter, how surprising, how shocking
it must have been, very unsettling. The vision
of the temple where sacrifices were made, where
forgiveness was offered, where offerings were
made for thanksgiving, and the whole center of
the life of Israel. It was shocking when St.
Paul writes, Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in
you? And he warns them, and he warns us. If anyone
defiles the temple of God, him shall God destroy.
For the temple of God is holy, which temple you
are. It's shocking. This is what we carry. This
is our ministry in this world. To be a place
of peace and holiness. Not division, but unity.
Can we not struggle a little more, brothers and
sisters, as we live our lives? We all have responsibilities
and cares and worries, but can we not struggle
to find that holy of holies to be drawn into
it in our own heart? Because this feast is also
the feast of the silence of the Virgin. Bishop
Callas does wear marks that somewhere. And so
we need that silence, too, to meet the Lord so
we will be cleansed. We hear that wonderful psalm,
and I take it seriously, and let us take it all
seriously. I will not give sleep to my eyes,
nor slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place
for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God
of Jacob. This is a personal quest. This is our
personal destiny. This is the direction we must
take as Christians to find a place for the Lord
within, a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.
We are nothing for God has chosen the weak of
the world, not the mighty, not the noble. This
is a feast now in this time of Advent when we
are looking, yes, at December 25th, this beautiful
fresco here, the nativity, it leads us. Because
today's the prelude of that. But we look past
that. When Christ, who is our life, we will hear
the week before Christmas, the epistle. When
Christ, who is our life, that means that we have
found a place for the mighty God of Jacob within.
When Christ, who is our life, appears, then we
shall also appear with him in glory. This is
the vision that we have, Christians. This is
the vision. No matter how much suffering or difficulty
or grief and death there is, this is what the
Lord has for us. Someone wrote, I can't recall
because I just saved a little clip and I put
it in my notes, something I really loved. He
wrote this. Today we hope for something very
simple. Today on this feast of our Holy Lady,
she will take me by my hand. And tell me that
she has longed for this day when I would join
her there in the temple and dance in God's presence,
happy that she is there and that her womb will
make him our Lord, a gift for all, salvation
of the world. I was glad when they said to me,
let us go to the house of the Lord. O Lord, I've
loved... the beauty of thy house and the place
where thy glory dwells. To our Lady be glory
and honor with her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
now and ever, to ages of ages. Amen.