The Dwelling Place of God

(The Entry of the Theotokos)

Today, we celebrate the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple. There are two remarkable aspects to this feast. The first is that she was taken by Zacharias, the high priest, into the holy of holies, which the high priest alone entered, and that only once a year, on the Day of Atonement. The second is that she then dwelt in the temple for the next nine years, taking part in all the services conducted there. The hymns of the Vigil service tell us much about these events: among other things, they tell us that, although she was but three years old when these things took place, she was well advanced in her spirit. By God’s grace, she was ready to enter into the life that would prepare her to be the dwelling place of God Incarnate, our Lord Jesus Christ.

We know that God is everywhere. Yet He commanded that a “dwelling place” be built for Him, and gave Moses explicit instructions on the tabernacle that was to be built for the people He had delivered from slavery in Egypt as they made their way across the desert to the land He had promised them. This tabernacle, a series of tents, with the Holy of holies in the center, was taken down each time the people moved; and rebuilt when they stopped – rebuilt in the center of the encampment. In this way, the people of God would know that He was in their midst, dwelling with them. Later, this tabernacle would be replaced with a temple in the city of Jerusalem, built by King Solomon; and later rebuilt – which was the temple into which the most holy Theotokos entered. The establishment of a “house of God” as a place of prayer, and a place for us to gather to worship God, continues among His people to this day. Indeed, we are gathered in such a place right now.

Yet, while this temple, and all such temples, are the dwelling-place of God, which we are privileged to enter, the place where God truly desires to dwell is within each of us, at the center of our being, in our heart of hearts. Have we built that temple for Him? Have we made it a place to which we go to meet with Him? Have we established a house of prayer for Him in the depths of our being? Our bodies, St. Paul tells us, are temples of the Holy Spirit – but whose face do we show in our daily lives? The face of God? Or that of His adversary?

Brothers and sisters, as we rejoice that she whose womb became the dwelling-place of God, bringing Him into our midst, let us also seek to enter into the temple of our hearts as she entered into the temple in Jerusalem; that we also might be transformed, and bear Christ in our lives, that He may be in our midst, and be present through us to all in the world, to the glory of God, and the salvation of our souls.

Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Savior, save us!