"Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them." (Matthew 5:17)
"413. Among the types which foreshadowed the most holy Mary in the written Law, none was more expressive than the ark of the covenant, not only on account of the material of which it was constructed, and its contents, but also on account of the purposes for which it served and the effects which the Lord wrought through it and in connection with it in the ancient synagogue.
It was all a prototype of this Lady and of what She was to do in the new Church of the Gospel. The incorruptible cedar, of which it was made, not by chance, but by divine disposition (Exod. 25, 10), typified clearly our mystical Ark Mary, free from the corruption of actual sin and from the secret worminess of original guilt with its inseparable ferment of disorderly passions.
The finest and purest gold (Exod. 25, 11), which covered it on the outside and inside, certainly indicated the most perfect and exalted graces and gifts, which shone forth in her heavenly thoughts, in her works and activities, in her habits and the operations of her faculties; so that in no exterior or interior part of this mystical Ark could be discerned ought, which at any moment of time was not entirely covered by the gold of the most exquisite and finest carat.
414. The stone tablets of the law, the vase of the manna and the miraculous staff (Heb. 9, 4), which that ancient ark contained and preserved, cannot be surpassed in expressive significance of the eternal and incarnate Word, enclosed within that living Ark the most holy Mary, for He was her onlybegotten Son, the living foundation-rock of the evangelical Church (I Cor. 3, 11). In this virginal ark of Mary was placed the key-stone which was to join the Gentiles and the Jews, and was torn from the mountain of its eternal generation (Ephes. 2, 20) in order that on it might be written by the finger of God the new Law of grace.
Thus in the old ark Mary was foreshadowed as the great Queen, who was to be the depositary of all that God provided and operated for his creatures. She also enclosed within Herself the manna of the Divinity and of grace, and the wonder-working staff of miracles and prodigies, so that this heavenly and mystical Ark alone contained the fountain of grace, namely God himself, overflowing into the rest of mankind and forming the nucleus of all the miracles and prodigies of God. In Mary therefore all that the Lord desired to operate and manifest is contained and deposited.
415. Accordingly the ark of the testament (not in itself, but on account of the truth which it foreshadowed) served as the seat and foot-stool of propitiation, where the Lord was seated in the tribunal of his mercies, to listen to his people, to answer them and distribute his gifts and favors; for the ancient ark typified most holy Mary, the throne of grace and the true mystical propitiatory which He had expressly made for his indwelling. Thus it seems that the tribunal of the divine justice remains set up in God himself, while the propitiatory and the tribunal of his mercy was set up in Mary, in order that to Her, as a throne of grace, we might approach in assured confidence to present our petitions for those benefits, graces and mercies, which outside of the Queen Mary, are unheard of and unattainable by the human race.
416. Such a sacred and mysterious Ark, constructed by the hands of the Lord himself for his habitation and as the propitiatory of his people, could not remain with propriety outside of his temple, where was preserved that other material ark, which was only a figure of this spiritual and true Ark of the new covenant. Therefore its Author ordained that She be placed in his house and temple as soon as the first three years of her infancy should be completed."
CALL TO ACTION: Turn to this mystical Ark always, since it is through Her we have received our greatest Treasure, and by Her intercession we shall receive our last end.
Source: "Mystical City of God," Book I, pages 325-327; W. B. Conkey Company (copyright 1912); Imprimatur: H. J. Alerding, Bishop of Ft. Wayne
Photo by Igor Rodrigues