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Lent with the Book of Exodus (Ch 40)

March 24, 2024

Fr. John Colacino C.PP.S.

Exodus 40 (Palm Sunday)

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “On the first day of the first month you shall raise up the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting. You shall put the ark of the covenant in it, and you shall screen the ark with the veil. You shall bring in the table, and set in order the things that are on it. You shall bring in the lamp stand, and light its lamps. You shall set the golden altar for incense before the ark of the covenant, and put the screen of the door to the tabernacle.

“You shall set the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting. You shall set the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and shall put water therein. You shall set up the court around it, and hang up the screen of the gate of the court.

“You shall take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and shall make it holy, and all its furniture, and it will be holy. You shall anoint the altar of burnt offering, with all its vessels, and sanctify the altar, and the altar will be most holy. You shall anoint the basin and its base, and sanctify it.

“You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall wash them with water. You shall put on Aaron the holy garments; and you shall anoint him, and sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office. You shall bring his sons, and put tunics on them. You shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to me in the priest’s office. Their anointing shall be to them for an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.” Moses did so. According to all that Yahweh commanded him, so he did.

In the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was raised up. Moses raised up the tabernacle, and laid its sockets, and set up its boards, and put in its bars, and raised up its pillars. He spread the covering over the tent, and put the roof of the tabernacle above on it, as Yahweh commanded Moses. He took and put the covenant into the ark, and set the poles on the ark, and put the mercy seat above on the ark. He brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the covenant, as Yahweh commanded Moses. He put the table in the Tent of Meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside of the veil. He set the bread in order on it before Yahweh, as Yahweh commanded Moses. He put the lamp stand in the Tent of Meeting, opposite the table, on the south side of the tabernacle. He lit the lamps before Yahweh, as Yahweh commanded Moses. He put the golden altar in the Tent of Meeting before the veil; and he burned incense of sweet spices on it, as Yahweh commanded Moses. He put up the screen of the door to the tabernacle. He set the altar of burnt offering at the door of the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the meal offering, as Yahweh commanded Moses. He set the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water therein, with which to wash. Moses, Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and their feet there. When they went into the Tent of Meeting, and when they came near to the altar, they washed, as Yahweh commanded Moses. He raised up the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.

Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and Yahweh’s glory filled the tabernacle. Moses wasn’t able to enter into the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud stayed on it, and Yahweh’s glory filled the tabernacle. When the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys; but if the cloud wasn’t taken up, then they didn’t travel until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of Yahweh was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

Commentary

Some people believe that [contemplative prayer] is so difficult and so awesome that they say it cannot be undertaken without great toil preceding it; that is, it can be achieved only very seldom, and this during the time of rapture. To these I wish to answer as well as my feebleness permits. I say that it all depends on the ordinance and the disposition of God, and the spiritual capacity of those to whom this grace of contemplation and spiritual working is given. There are some who cannot reach it without long and frequent spiritual exercises; and even then it is only very seldom that they will experience the perfection of this exercise, at the special calling of our Lord; this is what is meant by rapture.

But there are some who are so refined by grace and in spirit, and so familiar with God in this grace of contemplation, that they may have the perfection of it whenever they will, in their ordinary state of soul: whether they are sitting, walking, standing or kneeling. And at the same time they have the full command of all their faculties, bodily and spiritual, and can use them if they so wish: not without a certain hindrance, but one not hard to overcome. We have an example of the first type in Moses, and of the second in Aaron, the priest of the Temple.

This grace of contemplation is prefigured by the Ark of the Testament in the Old Law; and those who exercise themselves in this grace are prefigured by those who are most concerned with this ark, as the story bears witness. This work and this grace is rightly said to resemble that ark. For just as in that ark all the jewels and relics of the Temple were contained, in the same way in this little love, when it is offered, are contained all the virtues of a person’s soul, which is the spiritual temple of God.

Before Moses could come to see this ark, and know how it had to be made, he climbed up to the top of the mountain and dwelt and worked in a cloud for six days with hard and long labour, until the seventh day, when our Lord would deign to show him the way in which the ark should be made. By the long labour of Moses, and the delay in the revelation to him, we are to understand those who cannot come to the perfection of this spiritual exercise unless long labour precedes it, and even then only very seldom, and when God will deign to show it.

But what Moses could only come to see very seldom, might, Aaron, because of his office, have in his power to see in the Temple within the veil, as often as it pleased him to enter. By Aaron’s power we are to understand all those of whom I spoke above, those who by their spiritual skill and the help of grace, can make the perfection of this exercise their own as often as it pleases them. (Cloud of Unknowing)

Musical Selection (Palestrina)

Sanctificavit Moyses altare Domino, offerens super illud holocausta et immolans victimas;
fecit sacrificium vespertinum in odorem suavitatis Domino Deo in conspectu filiorum Israel.

Moses consecrated an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings on it, and sacrificial victims.
He made a sweet-smelling evening sacrifice to the Lord God in the sight of the children of Israel.

Collect

O God of eternal glory,
you anointed Jesus, your servant,
to bear our sins,
to encourage the weary,
to raise up and restore the fallen.
Keep before our eyes
the splendour of the paschal mystery of Christ,
and, by our sharing in the passion and resurrection,
seal our lives with the victorious sign
of his obedience and exaltation.

We ask this through Christ, our liberator from sin,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
holy and mighty God for ever and ever. Amen.

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