In today’s readings, we hear of the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of God. As we recall, God wished to be present among His people through the Ark of the Covenant, which He commanded to be built of gold on the outside, but of the purest gold on the inside. All we have to do is look to the Scriptures and we will see that this is the case. That makes of the Ark the dwelling place of God, a perfect type and figure which prophesies that immaculately conceived womb that would be like the purest gold on the inside—pure. That word pure. She who was untainted by sin.
We refer to the first reading, where we hear that David went to bring up the Ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the City of David amid festivities (2 Sam 6:10–12). Here is this incredible tabernacle, the most sacred structure in the entire world at that time, and we are told that it was being kept in the house of a man named Obed-edom. So we can ask the question: who exactly is this man named Obed-edom, and why is the most sacred of all tabernacles being reserved in his house? Scripture tells us that Obed-edom appears as a seemingly minor figure, yet Scripture lingers over him in a way that is never accidental. He is called Obed-edom the Gittite. While this might initially suggest Philistine origins, the broader biblical witness makes clear that he belongs to a Levitical family entrusted with the care of sacred things. In other words, he is a man capable of receiving God’s presence rightly and with reverence. And this is the key. This is why he matters. We are told that because of his reverence, “the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household” (2 Sam 6:11). The Ark remained in his house for about three months.
Now fast forward to the Gospel of Luke, when the true and living Ark of the Covenant—the new Ark of God—our Blessed Mother, that tabernacle which contained the God-Man in her womb, goes to the house of Elizabeth, her kinswoman. Saint Luke is careful to tell us that she remained there for about
three months (Lk 1:56). David rejoices at the coming of the Lord into the City of David, and all the Church Fathers saw in this a foreshadowing of the most important triumphal entry of all: when the Lord entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, fulfilling the prophecy, “Behold, your king comes to you, humble and riding on a donkey” (Zech 9:9; Mt 21:5). In today’s Gospel, a woman cries out, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you” (Lk 11:27), and Jesus takes the opportunity to extol His Mother even more deeply: “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Mt 12:50). This is what makes Mary great—her humility, her faith, her total yes to God, even when it meant sacrifice. May the Lord God of hosts, who now dwells not in tabernacles of gold but in the tabernacles of the world and in your own heart, make your heart a dwelling worthy of Him—the purest gold—for the King deserves nothing less.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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