My patron, Saint Augustine wrote in his book,"The City of God" in the 4th century; "Jesus Christ is veiled in the Old and unveiled in the New" and Jesus himself stated in the Gospel of St Luke; "These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled." ( St Luke 24:44 )
Jesus makes a point in his gospel that is crystal clear; the entire Old Testament points to Him and they are not simply allegorical stories about men and women of old, they are all signs pointing directly to His complete divine and human nature. So what does the Blessed Virgin Mary have to do with Jesus? Let's put away our senses of the flesh and robe ourselves with the senses of the Spirit.
In the book of Revelation we read from chapter 11:19 through chapter 12 as follows:
"Then God's temple in heaven was opened and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple;...And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;...."
Protestant scholars during the 20th and now 21st century have debated this scripture passage and continue to ask the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church how this scripture passage has anything to do with the Virgin Mary and the Ark of the Covenant? so once again we will attempt to use the sacred scriptures to unravel this misunderstanding and to recognize the relevance of the Blessed Mother in the lives of all disciples of the risen Lord in the City of God.
In the book of Hebrews 9:3-5 it states; "Behind the second curtain stood a tabernacle called the Holy of Holies, having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, which contained a golden urn holding manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat...."
These three items existed in the ark that was used in the temple for the worship of the Lord God, sacrifices, prayers, and even used in battle to fight all those against the chosen people of Israel ( "The Battle of Jericho",Joshua 6 ). If we are correct, these are the same exact items that are signs pointing to Jesus Christ and the sacred womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We can see without any confusion that Jesus is the Word that became flesh and dwells among us, the True manna that comes down from heaven, and the high priest of Aaron in the order of Melchizedek, the same items in the previous ark.
Let us move forward to the Gospel of St Luke 1:32-35 when the angel Gabriel states to the virgin Mary at the Annunciation:
"He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end." And Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no husband?" And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God."
As we clearly see the same spirit that overshadowed the ark of the covenant in the Old Testament now overshadows the Ark of the Covenant of the New Covenant. And one may ask, what does King David have to do with Jesus and the Ark? Let us travel back to the Old Testament in the book of II Samuel chapter 6:
"And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from the hills of Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim...."How can the ark of the Lord come to me?....And the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obededom the Gittite three months;...And it was told King David, "The Lord has blessed the household of Obededom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God."...As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord..."
The reason King David leaped for joy was the presence of the Lord in the ark of the covenant and now leads us to the climax of the fulfilled King David in Jesus Christ at the Annunciation of the virgin Mary and her visitation to her kinsmen Elizabeth in the gospel of St Luke 1:39-56:
"In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the child leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is it granted me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord...Then Mary stayed with her about three months..."
Blessed is who leaps for joy when entering the womb of Mother Church in the presence of the sacred tabernacle of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the hills of the four corners of the world and blessed are those who replicate St Elizabeth by taking the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant into their homes as members and inhabitants of The City of God through the prayers and mysteries of the most Holy Rosary in their spiritual battles of the world, the city of men!
