Day 5
The Feast of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple is the first major Feast that falls during the Nativity Fast. It tells us a story about the early life of the blessed Virgin and begins to give us insight not only into the coming Nativity of Christ, but also ultimately His Resurrection as well.
In truth, it was not unusual for people to go to the Temple in Jerusalem. But as Archimandrite Vassilios points out, the Greek word used for Entry here is plural. The reason for this is that the Temple in Jerusalem had three parts: There was the main part of the Temple that people went into, and two other more significant places - the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. These two areas we reserved, the Holy of Holies being the most sacred. It was here that the Ark of the Covenant was kept, which contained the tablets of the 10 commandments given to Moses by God. The Holy of Holies was seen as the dwelling place of God in the Temple. It was here that the Virgin Mary remained for 12 years, being fed by an angel!
The beauty of this Feast is that through, we begin to understand that she is to become the dwelling place of God. We begin to see and understand that through the Nativity of Christ, that the human body now becomes the holiest thing on earth. As Clement of Alexandria tells us: "The Word of God became man, so that we may learn from man how man may become God" That is a powerful statement! By allowing herself to be taken into the holiest part of the temple and be dedicated to God, the blessed Virgin opens a path to salvation and the kingdom for heaven for each and every one of us. Her willingness to become the dwelling place of God allows the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, to live and walk among us...teaching us how to become like Him!
The Nativity Fast gives us these 40 days to prepare our own bodies to also be the dwelling place of God, as we allow the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. St. Paul tells us that we are all temples of the Holy Spirit. Let us use these 40 days to prepare our own temples to experience once again this miracle of salvation that starts with a child in a Temple. Let us "go to meet Him!"
In Christ
Fr. David