There is a pious saying about scripture that contains a lot of truth. It says, “the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.” In fact, there is so much truth in this axiom, that the Church tries to show us this connection in the liturgy. That is why, at every mass, except during the Easter season, we have our first reading from the Old testament, followed by the gospel from the New Testament. If we pay close attention to both, it is amazing to see how the first reading constantly prepares the way for the gospel message. This concept in scripture, where something from the old testament prepares us for something in the New, is called foreshadowing. Over and over again, some person or event in the Old Testament foreshadows something or someone that will happen in the New testament. Something or someone that will be perfected by God’s hand and exceed all human expectation.
Today is no exception to this rule. In our first reading from 2nd Sammuel, we hear that King David has finally settled down. He finally gets to enjoy the hard work and sacrifices that have been made. But there is a problem. David realizes that he is living in a nice house of cedar while the Ark of the covenant rests in a simple tent. In other words, he is living a life of luxury while the Lord is sheltered in the dwelling of a wandering traveller. David tells the prophet Nathan that he is going to make things right and build a magnificent temple for the Lord.
However, God has other plans. During the night, the Lord commands Nathan to go to David and tell the king that it will not be him who builds the Temple but his son Solomon. David has already done great things but the Lord wants to remind him that everything that has been accomplished is God’s doing. It is not David who will provide a home for the Lord but the Lord who will provide a home for David and the people of Israel. Indeed there is a wonderful irony involved here. David does not build a house for the Lord but instead the Lord provides a house for David—a great family of descendants: the House of David, a house that will last forever and bring forth the savior of the world.
Today we hear about the fulfillment of that promise in the Gospel. For generations, the descendants of David had tried to build a suitable home for the Lord. Again and again, that home had been delayed, destroyed, or desecrated by corruption both within and outside God’s Chosen People. They focused on a physical building, a structure of brick and mortar. But God was not content to simply dwell in a magnificent temple made by a king. God showed the world that the temple is just a foreshadowing of something greater. He perfected his dwelling place by choosing one that was not made by human hands. He sent his angel Gabriel to a young maiden, born of the house of David. Her name was Mary and she was full of faith and trust in God. The angel greeted her as one “full of grace” and told her that she would become the mother of God. All she had to do was say yes. And as we know, she did. She took that leap of faith and trusted that God would provide for whatever she was lacking. In the end, the house of David did provide the dwelling place of God through the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She was the New temple, the eternal ark of the covenant.
But even here, God is not content to make his dwelling simply the immaculate and sinless womb of the virgin Mary. In his mysterious and infinite wisdom, God now wants to dwell in the souls of each and every person. He offers to enter into our hearts by the sacrament of baptism and deepen that presence within us through the other sacraments and by prayer and good works. This mystery of God’s goodness is called sanctifying grace. Each of us received it at baptism, when original sin was wiped away. And this sanctifying grace is the very life of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwelling within us. As long as we are in the state of grace, God lives within us and we become dwelling places of God, temples of divine life.
This is an awesome privilege and an even greater mystery. Look at how God’s love has been revealed to us little by little, like the opening of a beautiful flower, from bud to full bloom. In the Old testament, God simply dwelt with His people through the Ark of Covenant. Then His presence was expanded to include the magnificent temple, which every Jew would visit once a year. In the fulness of time, God’s presence became flesh in Jesus Christ and he become one of us as he carried out his saving ministry. Finally, through the merits of Jesus, God’s presence became available to all, through the Eucharist, found in every Catholic Church and the indwelling of God in every person’s soul who has sanctifying grace. Notice the movement of God! In the beginning it is isolated, removed, and inaccessible. In the fullness of time is becomes personal, imminent, and accessible to all.
With this great gift comes great responsibility. Even though God gives us his life so freely, because of our sinfulness, it is very easy to lose. Any mortal sin will take away sanctifying grace and drive away God’s life from our soul. This grace can only be restored in our souls by going to the sacrament of confession and receiving absolution from the priest. So what is a mortal sin? It is a serious offense against the law of God that destroys the life of God in a person’s soul. A mortal sin requires three things to be present (listen carefully, these are important!) 1) the sin must be serious in nature, 2) the person must have full knowledge of the evil he or she is committing, 3) there must be full consent of the will.
Practically speaking, what do these sort of sins look like? Allow me to list a few common ones that I run into as a priest and confessor. This is by no means an exhaustive list! Mortal sins include sins against purity like: viewing pornography, self-abuse, fornication, the use of artificial contraception and willfully entertaining impure thoughts and desires. Sins against our body like drunkenness, drug use, and gluttony. Sins against charity like destroying the reputation of others by malicious speech, lying under oath or about other serious things, stealing or cheating in significant amount (the threshold used to be $50). Sins against God like a deliberate and hateful use of his Holy Name or the name of Mary, missing of Mass without a truly serious or valid reason, and the unworthy reception of Holy Communion in the state of mortal sin, which is a sacrilege.
I don’t mention this teaching on mortal sin to scare or discourage you. Rather, I think it is important for us to realize the great gift we have been given through our baptism, the fact that God dwells within our souls through sanctifying grace. We should thank him daily for this incredible privilege of serving as his temple. But we also need to be aware of how easily that gift can be lost through weakness and temptation. As we approach this final week of advent and prepare to celebrate Christ’s birthday, let us renew our efforts to protect and deepen the sanctifying grace within our souls. And, if we have been unfortunate enough to lose this treasure, let us make use of the sacrament of reconciliation which will be offered here freely this week, so that we can welcome Christ back into our hearts for the Christmas season. Above all, may we have hope, knowing from our gospel that “nothing is impossible with God.”
