Let us still dwell a little on the beautiful texts and thoughts And we have celebrated this morning in Mass. We heard this beautiful intro. Let us adore God and fall down before the Lord. Let us weep before him who made us. For he is the Lord our God. And then come, let us praise the Lord with joy. Let us joyfully sing to God our Savior.

[01:01]

We see thee here how the act of the adoration of God is not simply an external gesture, but it is something that springs out of the very depth of our soul. And true adoration of God has these two aspects. We weep and we rejoice. And only one can say, because we are able to rejoice. That is a topic which then is continued through the texts of the Ember Saturday, or this beautiful vigil. If you look at them, just the lessons, to consider them, to say, in an external way, And you find that they are grouped in groups of two. You have the first two lessons, which are both taken from the book Leviticus of the Old Testament, that book which contains what the Jews used to call the testimonial.

[02:14]

These testimonial are what we call today ceremonial laws. ceremonial laws, laws which concern, prescribe the observance of certain external acts, which, however, have a symbolic meaning and concern the sanctification of the individual. Then all we have to consider Two following lessons, the third and the fourth lesson, are both taken from the prophets, from the law, but from the prophets, the cares and the sacral. And these two lessons describe to us the inner meaning, the inner, I can say, mystery of sanctity, of holiness, which is symbolically presented in the

[03:20]

ceremonial laws of Leviticus. And then you have the next pair of lessons. It's then the epistle and the gospel in which describe the New Testament fulfillment. So it's the law, the prophets, and the New Testament. And the mystery around which these texts are grouped and which they show to us is that of the great Jewish holidays, which the Jews celebrated these days and which we, as it were, take up in their Christian fulfillment. The great feast days are culminating in the two main feasts, the Yom Kippurah, as the feast, the day of atonement and the feast of the tavern.

[04:24]

And of course, if I call to your attention the fact that in the intro it, we speak about adoring God by prostrating ourselves before him and weeping and stand by joyfully, coming before his and his face. These two aspects are represented in these two days. The day of atonement is the day, one would say, of weeping, and the so-called feast is the day of the ingathering of the harvest and of the joy. before the face of the Lord, the highest kind of joy, joy before the face of the Lord. And that is also why each one of these lessons is concerned with. So if we turn to the first lesson of Leviticus, the 23rd chapter, verse 26 to 32, the 10th day of the 7th,

[05:33]

Of course, the seventh month represents in the circle of the year what the Sabbath day represents in the circle of the week. So the seventh month, just as the Sabbath day is the holy day, the week, that means the day of union with God, so is the seventh month, the September, also the Sabbath month within the course of the year. And so upon the tenth day of this seventh month, shall be the day of atonement. It shall be most solemn and shall be called holy. And then this right away is explained what is in this connection, what is holiness, and where is our God. to holiness how it is is it characterized how is it symbolically presented in these youth in these testimonia through the affliction of the soul you shall afflict your soul on that day and shall offer holy cause to the Lord and you shall do no survive work in time of this day

[06:55]

because it's a day of propitiation that the Lord your God may be merciful unto you. So these two things, the affliction of the soul and the stopping of the work, that are the two ways in which man symbolically manifests his approach to the Holy One, to God the Holy One, the way in which he keeps this day holy. The affliction of the soul is an act which one may say affects our being. The soul is that in which man is. The affliction of the soul in fasting, I call your attention to the fact that these two things, fasting and the stopping of work, in, I add, in the context of the Day of Atonement, are two parallel things and express in various fields the same basic idea.

[08:01]

The first thing is, as it is called here, the affliction of the soul. It's difficult to translate that affliction of the soul. It is really let the soul fast. That means let The soul is the spirit of life, what we are. The fasting is our, as I told you before, our public confession before God that through our guilt and our sin, we are not worthy to be before God. It affects our being. It is a renouncement of Fasting in that way is a voluntary death. It affects our soul. That means the principle of being in man. While the other one, the stopping of the survival work, refers to the sphere of action.

[09:06]

The whole human life is contained in these two things, in being and in action. So the stopping of work is the The solid confession that before God, just as our being is worthy of death, so all our actions have the same character of, let us say, being in vain. Not, as it's very important to remember that, you know, that in the center already of the Old Testament faith, is the renouncement of being and of acting. That means, you know, on the, any kind and any form of self-assurance. So, the, therefore, sabbatum requirits you. It is a sabbat of rest.

[10:08]

But that is the meaning of this rest. It's a profession, let us say, in anticipation. Before God's judgment, we anticipate God's wedding. Before judgment comes, we already resign. We accept the punishment. Then in the second lesson from Leviticus, as in the first, the spirit of the Day of Atonement is described. So in the second lesson, the spirit of the Feast of the Tabernacles is described. And while in the day of atonement it is the renouncement, the renouncing of being and of acting, of the right to be and the right to act, so in the second day of tabernacles, just the opposite. There it starts on the fifteenth day of the seventh month when you shall have gathered in all the fruits of your land,

[11:12]

You shall celebrate the feast of the Lord's separate days. On the first day and the eighth day shall be a Sabbath, that is, a day of rest. And you shall take to you on the first day. That is the word which here really has the accent, which is in Latin translated by summetis ovis. Take off. After first, we have put everything out of our hands, our life as well as our actions. So in the second, now, divine commandment, the divine invitation, take Summita, Summitis. That is very emphatic in the Hebrew terminology of this passage of Leviticus. Summitis, what we speak for, and then Fuctus arvores pulcheriae, faith on the fruits of the fairest tree and branches of palm trees.

[12:19]

Of course, all these translations are, for example, translation, fruits of the fairest tree, you know, that is, that's all. You will become explained here. Both of thick trees and willows on the book. Now, I mean, if you hear that ferris tree and the thick tree, you know, you'll wonder what it's all about. But I mean, that is the, it's the little lulap, you know, which the Jews then carry in their hands a, how can we say, a bouquet, you know, which is various patches. And the idea is to take the most exquisite, like to say, those branches which have as citrus fruit, you know, then the olive tree, and the willow branches, you know, which will present the blessing which is upon the chosen, the promised land.

[13:21]

So we take that. So a completely different thing. Here is the solemn and joyful assertion, let us say, of the right of the chosen people to take the fruits of the promised land, that whole paradise that God has prepared for them. And this was this day then, this so-called, a feast starting with the festive procession of Lula, a bouquet, then it's in the dwelling in the tabernacle. And that dwelling in tabernacle has for the Jews, as you know, a special meaning. It represents that kind of dwelling in which one is in absolute peace with one's neighbors.

[14:27]

To the Jews, of course, what happened after the Exodus from Egypt, that was to them the symbolic picture of the lost messianic happiness of the Jewish people. And one characteristic of this happiness is the dwelling in tabernacles in opposition to dwelling in stone houses built of stone. tamernacle the opposite say to the tamernacle is the house the house is built in walls the house has a roof on it the house is shut up from the environment is protected against things that come from above that means up from god and is protected against the things that come from the neighbor tribe left so in the house is where man is or better much better say locks himself up for security's sake, under a roof which protects him from the rain as well as from the sunshine coming from whatever comes from heaven, and the walls which protect him against his neighbors.

[15:40]

So the dwelling in the tabernacle is, if you want, the spiritual protest against the artificial way of life of fallen man in this in this way which he is cut off from the cosmos around him through the roof as well as from the walls that means his neighbors the people he lives with from both being shared the tabernacle in that way and that is the prescription also of the law the tab for example the roof of the tabernacle of never be so let us say thick that the one who lives in it, is unable to see at night the stars in the sky. That's the rabbinic, not from Scripture, but the rabbinic prescription, which is, of course, also observed today by every Orthodox Jew, to see the stars on the night, on the sky at night.

[16:50]

And so, therefore, the tabernacle is the opposite. The tabernacle is a way of living, represents a way of living in which man is, first of all, in peace with God from above, and in peace with his neighbors. He is open, open towards the sky, towards heaven, and open towards the world. so he has peace with God and peace with his neighbors. And that is the meaning of the tabernacle. Therefore, the tabernacle is always associated with the idea of the heartless, simple joy of the just, of God's chip. Then if you turn to the lessons of the prophets, you see also the inner wisdom. let's say, the inner relation, you know, of this, let's say, the external, one can say, ceremonial law to the spiritual law, which is here proclaimed especially by prophets at a time where the ceremonial law is in danger to be just observed as a matter of external observance,

[18:16]

while the spirit really was not there. That is, as you know, one of the central problems, not only of the Old Testament, but also of the New Testament, you know, everybody who lives tries that way to approach God. So easily the devil gets him up in a corner with external things, and at the same time, you know, puts his foot so that he stomachs over the spirit. So these two things, the external and the internal, are always in a certain tension. But here, therefore, the prophets stand up in order to, let's say, break through the appearances of false external observance by putting all the emphasis on the inner spiritual meaning, the chaos, Lord our God, feed thy people with thy rod to the flock of thy inheritance, and that dwell alone in the forest.

[19:17]

The nations shall see and shall be confounded at all their strength. Who is a God like to thee, who takest away iniquity, passes by the sin of the remnant of thy inheritance? He will send his fury in the war, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again and have mercy on us. He will put away our iniquities. He will cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea. Now that is the meaning of the Yom Kippur, which the external observance of which was given in the first lesson. Yom Kippur, the inner meaning of the Yom Kippur is what we call reconciliation. But this reconciliation Already in the Old Testament is not, you know, let us say, our attempt to do something, you know, to reconcile God, but it means God reconciling himself.

[20:18]

Deus tu conversus vivicarsis. O God, as we say every time when we begin, let us say, our New Testament, Deus tu conversus vivicarsis. God, you turn around and you give us life. And that is the sum total exactly also of this lesson here of the prophet Michaeus. Take us to why iniquity passeth by the sin of the remnants of thy inheritance. He delights in mercy. He will turn again. Reverte tu et miseretua nostri. Converte tu et miseretua nostri. He will turn again and have mercy on us. He will put away our iniquities. He will cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea. Then in the fourth lesson, you will have the inner, you can say the inner aspect of the support feast, of the feast of tabernacles.

[21:25]

And that is explained by Zachary. And that was what is To symbolize in the tabernacles is the simplicity of the one who lives in, one can say, truth and peace. Emeth and Shabbat. That is the idea of the so-called Feast of the Tabernacles. Emeth and Shabbat. Truth and peace. The truth is our relation to God in the vertical. The vertical line. That truth is, on our part, the observance near our divine commands of God and on the fundamentally, basically on the side of God, the truth, the loyalty with which God keeps his promises, God who is the yes and amen. So that Ameth and the Shalom considers, concerns,

[22:29]

our relation to our neighbors. Peace. Truth and peace. So, that is then also here explained. These then are the things which you shall do. Speak ye truth, everyone to his neighbor. Judge ye truth and judgment of peace in your gates. Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his friend. That are the dangers with which Constantly our relation to others is threatened. And the living in the house with the walls around and the walls chucking you off from your neighbor is exactly this, that none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his friend. That is the wall which we put up and which cuts us off from the neighbor. So living in the house in that. And they followed the serious and consistent admonition, judge ye truth, and judgment of peace in your gates.

[23:35]

For these are the things that I hate, says the Lord. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the fast of the fourth month, fast the fifth, of the seventh, and of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah, joy and gladness and great solenities. Only love ye truth and peace, says the Lord of Romans. Now, in this you have really the sum total of the whole meaning of the Jewish holy year, the holy year of the Jew. That is, there are the two elements, you know, there is fasting, the stopping of work, and out of those two renouncements, Renouncing of our right to be, renouncing of our right to act, for God is then, the fruit of it is joy. Love be truth and peace as the Lord. That is the inner part of it. Truth towards God and peace towards people.

[24:39]

And then we have in the epistle and the gospel, you have the New Testament fulfillment of these things. Two things, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, we have the epistle describing the Day of Atonement, the services as they were kept in the temple by St. Paul, the epistle to the Hebrews, and it's New Testament fulfillment, and that is, and indicates in the last sentence of this, but Christ be calm, a high priest of the good things to come, by greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is not of this creation, neither by the blood of ghosts nor of calves, but by his own blood, entered once into the holies, having obtained eternal redemption. So there is the fulfillment of the idea of reconciliation, which is an act on the part of God, who says his son,

[25:48]

to enter into the veil of his flesh and in the power of his giving, sharing his own blood. That means taking upon himself these two things, the renouncement of the right to live and the renouncement of the right to act on the cross. There he died first and then he was nailed on the cross and that is the supper of the Lord. And then you have in the gospel, you have the beautiful testament fulfillment and say of the meaning, you know, of the day of Tabernicus, there is the resurrection. There is the woman that was, it represents here, the church of the Gentiles. I mean, this whole connection, gospel of St. Lupin, so with the a parable of the fig tree before, and here, woman, you are delivered from your infirmity.

[26:53]

He laid his hands upon her, immediately she was made straight and glorified God. And that being made straight and glorified God, that is exactly, again, the mystery, one can say, of the Tabernacle, the Feast of Tabernacles, because that living in Tabernacles is the justus, that means the straight one. justitia justus is the straight one the one who is irate that means the one who lives in truth and in peace so here also this woman just that is indicated he was made straight and she glorified God that is the other action in which we stand you know in completing our truth before God the bow the bows of the Is it the boughs? B-O-U-G-H, what do you say?

[27:57]

The boughs of the tabernacle, you know, let's shine through the stars on the sky, on the sky at night. That is the, that village, you know, to God's glory. So that, all that is done on the Sabbath the Sabbath. Here is the day of the resurrection. And then we have again in the communion, really, the beautiful New Testament fulfillment of just the same in the seventh, not the seventh. Now that, of course, in this context here, that is, as I say, not anymore September, but that is the messianic age in the whole history of mankind. The Seventh month, I mean in the, one can say in the series of the ages, the seventh month is the messianic age. We have a Sabbath day, and we have the messianic day, the Sabbath.

[29:03]

You celebrate this feast, as I made the children of Israel to dwell in Tamarachos. When I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I am the Lord your God. our being brought out of the land of Egypt, that is, our deliverance, which has taken place in baptism once, which again and again is taking place in the atonement, in the sacrament of penance. And those who are brought out of the land of Egypt through baptism, through penance, day of atonement, then they dwell in tabernacles. They dwell in tabernacles. But what is this tabernacle? It is the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. So it is what we call the mystical body, the tabernacle. And there in this mystical body, and being born with the one who is equals to, there then we are united.

[30:06]

Really, I am the Lord, you are God. And that is the Lord, our God, is the Lord whom we receive in holy communion, the one who is, therefore, our tabernacle.

[30:35]

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