Tuesday, November 28 : Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein]

Some understanding of this eucharistic character of prayer had already been revealed under the Old Covenant. The wondrous form of the tent of meeting, (Ex 25) and later, of Solomon’s temple… was considered an image of the entire creation, assembled in worship and service around its Lord… As the heavens in the creation story were stretched out like a carpet, so carpets were prescribed as walls for the tent. As the waters of the earth were separated from the waters of the heavens, so the curtain separated the Holy of Holies from the outer rooms… The seven-branched light in the tent stands for the heavenly lights. Lambs and birds stand for the swarms of life teeming in the water, on the earth, and in the air. And as the earth is handed over to people, so in the sanctuary there stands the high priest… In place of Solomon’s temple, Christ has built a temple of living stones, (1Pt 2,5) the communion of saints. At its center, he stands as the eternal high priest; on its altar he is himself the perpetual sacrifice. And, in turn, the whole of creation is drawn into the “liturgy”: the fruits of the earth as the mysterious offerings, the flowers and the lighted candlesticks, the carpets and the curtain, the ordained priest, and the anointing and blessing of God’s house. Not even the cherubim are missing. Fashioned by the hand of the artist, the visible forms stand watch beside the Holy of Holies. And, as living copies of them, the monks resembling angels surround the sacrificial altar and make sure that the praise of God does not cease, as in heaven so on earth… Their morning hymns of praise call all of creation together to unit once more in praising the Lord: mountains and hills, streams and rivers, seas and lands and all that inhabit them, clouds and winds, rain and snow, all peoples of the earth, every class and race of people, and finally also the inhabitants of heaven, the angels and the saints (cf. Dan 3,57-90)… We are to unite ourselves through our liturgy to the eternal praise of God. “We”, here, refers not just to the consecrated religious who are called to give solemn praise to God, but to all Christian people.

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team