Sermon on the Dedication of the Church

Because, by the favour of the Deity, Dearest Brethren, we celebrate the solemnities of the dedication of the Church, we ought to be conformed to the solemnity which we observe, so that just as we have passed the night with joyful vigils in the customary manner, with the walls of that same Church more carefully adorned, with many lights kindled, with the number of readings enlarged, with the melody of Psalms added; so also let us always adorn the inner chambers of our hearts with the ever-necessary ornaments of good works. Let the flame of divine piety and brotherly charity always increase within us; let the holy memory of heavenly precepts and the sweetness of angelic praise always resound in the sanctuary of our breast. For these are the fruits of the good tree, this is the treasure of the good heart, these are the foundations of the wise Architect, which the reading of the Holy Gospel today commends to us: that we should have not merely the form, but rather the power of godliness.

This also the mystical history of the old covenant diligently suggests, when either Moses built the tabernacle, or Solomon built the temple for the Lord, as a type of the Holy Church; for each house is reported to have been firmly founded: the Tabernacle indeed, which had walls joined together from planks upon silver bases, but the temple upon squared stones placed in the foundation. The timbers also were incorruptible, of which both the entire Tabernacle was made, and the Temple was adorned within and covered over above, and shone. They also brought forth the finest gold from a good treasury, with which the walls within and without were clothed, and not only the walls of the Temple, but also the ceilings, beams, doors, posts, and pavements were covered. Moreover, almost all the vessels and utensils of each house were of gold, nor was it lawful for these to be made of anything but the purest gold.

The fruits also of trees which were offered in the house of the Lord were commanded to be of the purest and most choice kind: that is, of the Vine, the Olive, Frankincense, Myrrh, or Stacte, and others of this sort; all of which, understood spiritually, declare the true sincerity of our Faith and conduct. For each house, as we have said, prefigures the Universal Church. Nor should anyone think it incongruous that two houses of the Lord were made in mystery, since no faithful person doubts that the Church is the one house of Christ. For two houses were built to signify the two peoples who were to come into the same Faith, namely the Jew and the Gentile. Hence it is fitting that the Tabernacle was built by the Jewish people alone in the desert. But the structure of the Temple was devoutly completed by Proselytes and strangers from the Gentiles, as many as could be found among the people at that time.

Moreover, the most powerful King of Tyre, engaged by Solomon with borrowed craftsmen and timber, gave most welcome assistance, because assuredly before the Incarnation of the Lord, God was known only in Judaea. But after He who was born and suffered in that flesh was raised from the dead and exalted above the heavens as God, immediately the glory of His name shone over all the earth, and the whole world hastened to the building of His house, and received from Him the promise of heavenly gifts. Scripture therefore relates that King Solomon commanded that great stones should be taken for the foundations of the Temple and squared. Now the great and precious stones, placed in the foundation and bearing the entire weight of the Temple set upon them, suggest the eminent Doctors of the holy Church: great indeed in the excellence of their merits, precious in the brightness of their signs, who, hearing the word from the Lord Himself, brought forth the whole fabric of the growing Church by their preaching.

These stones the King commanded to be squared, to signify that the teachers of the Church ought to be composed in their conduct and immovable in spirit. For just as a squared stone, whichever way it is turned, will stand firm, so likewise the life of the perfect, which is carefully directed to the line of truth, knows not how to be cast down from its stability by any assaults of temptations. Now the Temple of God was built of Parian marble, that is, of white stone, to express the whiteness of Ecclesiastical chastity, of which the Lord says in the Song of love: As a lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters. The same Temple had sixty cubits in length, thirty cubits in breadth, forty cubits in height.

The length of the Temple therefore designates the faith of the holy Church, by which it patiently endures the adversities of the wicked amid its own good works; the breadth, charity, by which it spreads inwardly through the bowels of piety; the height, hope, by which, on account of the good works which they perform through charity, they await the rewards of heavenly life. And it is fitting that the length is sixty cubits. For by the number six the perfection of good works is customarily designated, because God also made the adornment of the world in six days; and there are six ages of this world, in which the holy Church presses on with pious deeds for the sake of eternal rest. It is fitting that the cubits of breadth are twenty, because the commandment of charity is twofold, since the Church is enlarged in tribulation, when each perfect person ought to love the Creator also with his whole heart, his whole soul, his whole strength, and his neighbour as himself.

It is fitting that the cubits of height are thirty, because the whole hope of the Elect hastens, by exercising and purifying itself as much as it is able, toward the vision of the holy Trinity. It should indeed be noted that the thirty cubits of height extended not to the topmost summit of the temple, but to the ceilings of the temple; then another thirty cubits of height rose to the ceilings of the middle tabernacle. Furthermore, the earthly upper chamber which remained had sixty in breadth, and so the entire height of the house was comprised in one hundred and twenty cubits. The first house therefore rises thirty cubits in height, because the present Church is wholly suspended in intention toward beholding the form of the Holy Trinity. The upper house likewise raises itself thirty cubits on high, because the souls of the perfect, freed from their bodies until the day of universal Judgment, enjoy the present vision of that same blessed and undivided Trinity.

The topmost house is high by twice thirty cubits, because all the elect, raised from the dead, will rejoice in the eternal immortality of spirit and flesh alike, in the contemplation of that same Creator of theirs, who in three persons is one God. A middle wall was made in the temple of cedar planks twenty cubits in height, to divide the oracle into the Holy of Holies; from the front part of the temple it had twenty cubits of length, and twenty cubits of breadth, and twenty cubits of height. Furthermore, the temple itself before the doors of the oracle was fifteen cubits, in which were the tables and the candlestick of gold. There was also a golden altar near the door of the Oracle, so that the vapour of smoke rising from the incense burned upon it might cover the oracle, where the Ark of the Covenant was, above which were the Cherubim of glory overshadowing the Mercy-seat.

The first house therefore designates the state of the first Church; the inner house designates the entrance into heavenly life. Hence it is rightly that tables and candlesticks were made for the first house, because assuredly in this life we have need of the light of the holy Scriptures and the refreshment of heavenly Sacraments; but in the future we shall not need such aids, where, according to the voice of the Psalmist, all who shall appear with justice shall be satisfied with the manifest glory of the Lord. In this life therefore the hearts of the just, like a golden altar of incense, shine brightly through the purity of holiness.

They are filled with the spices of spiritual desires, they blaze with the fire of continual love, and, placed as it were at the entrance of heaven, they send upward the most sweet vapour of their prayer into the holy of holies above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God, whom most plainly the Ark of the Covenant, which was within the veil, designates; in which was a golden Urn containing Manna, and the Rod of Aaron which had budded, and the Tables of the covenant. For the Ark itself designates the nature of His humanity; the Urn of manna, the fullness of His divinity; the Rod of Aaron, the inviolable power of His priesthood; the Tables of the covenant signify that He is the one who established the law, and who will also give blessing to those who fulfil the law.

It is fitting moreover that the Temple before the doors of the Oracle was fifteen cubits in length, since in this life it is still necessary to be chastened by fasts and continence, that we may seem to arrive at the satiety of inner sweetness; for everyone who wishes rightly to understand the forty-day fast of Moses, or of Elijah, or of the Lord Himself, understands that by this number the chastening of the present life is signified. It is fitting that the Oracle itself, in which the Ark covered by the Cherubim of glory stood, had twenty cubits of length, breadth, and height, a number which, as we have said, suggests the perfection of twofold love, because whatever is done for God in this pilgrimage, all of it is accomplished in that dwelling of the eternal homeland, where His majesty is extolled by the continual praise of good spirits, in the sole breadth of love.

These things, dearest brethren, it has pleased us to set forth to your brotherhood, a few out of many, from the construction of the temple, for the joy of our present feast, so that both the wondrous fabric of the earthly house might delight those who hear, and these same things, understood spiritually, might more ardently raise our minds to the love of the heavenly dwelling. But also after this dedication now expounded, and the festivity that followed, Scripture thus concluded: And Solomon dismissed the people, who, blessing the King, departed to their tents, rejoicing and glad of heart over all the good things which the Lord had done for David His servant, and for Israel His people.

For the Lord, when the work of redemption is accomplished, will dismiss His elect rejoicing into their eternal tents; He will not indeed remove them any further from His presence, but sending them from the peril of judgment, which we know from the teaching of the Apostle is to be held in the air, into the habitation of the heavenly Homeland, so that each may receive, according to his own merits, the promised seat of the heavenly kingdom. It is fitting moreover that it is said they departed blessing the King to their tents, because this is assuredly the sole most quiet and most faithful occupation of the citizens of heaven, to sing hymns of thanksgiving to their Creator; for hence it is written: Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house, they shall praise Thee for ever and ever: rejoicing in time, and glad of heart over all the good things which the Lord had done for David His servant, and for Israel His people.

The just, rejoicing over the good things which they receive from the Lord, enter the tents of the heavenly mansions, because however heavy, however long the labours of this age may have been, whatever is ended by eternal blessedness is assuredly brief and light. Wherefore it is fitting, Dearest Brethren, that in the building of the House of God each one of us should press on as much as he is able, by exhorting, beseeching, rebuking, and himself sweating in pious deeds, lest if the heavenly King should see anyone now idle in the work of His temple, He should render him a stranger to the future dedication, the great solemnity of His own.

Let us strive with the mutual aid of charity, so that finding you all glad of heart and unwearied in the works which He Himself has commanded, He may lead you all to the rewards which He has promised, into the perpetual vision of Himself, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father as God in the unity of the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.