Since through the Blood of Jesus
we have confidence of entrance into the sanctuary
It is too easy to dismiss this confidence of entrance we have been given. Too many years have passed since access was limited to a high priest once a year. Further, there was not great confidence then, to the degree that they tied a rope around the high priest's leg in case he died while in the presence of God, so that he could be removed safely and without sacrilege. Further still, it wasn't even into the real fullness of the presence of God that he entered, but merely an earthly copy built after the heavenly blueprint.
It is too easy to also dismiss the way that we have this confidence. It is too easy to see the veil now opened without paying attention to the way that was made possible for us, the way without which it would have remained closed.
by the new and living way he opened for us through the veil,
that is, his flesh
It was by the death of Jesus that we were given access to the presence of God. The veil of sin and death that separated us was torn asunder, irreparably, and forever. We ourselves were cleansed by washing in the pure waters of baptism, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. This was the water that poured from the wounded side of Christ. Without it would lack the sinless hands and clean hearts that are needed to ascend the mountain of the LORD and stand in his holy place. What we could never do, what we ought never to have even dared to hope without God's promise, he himself accomplished in the dying and rising of Christ.
We tend to dismiss what seems to abstract, what is not a lived reality in our lives. But the author of Hebrews did not think that this was merely a heavenly reality. He invited us to enter in.
We should not stay away from our assembly,
as is the custom of some, but encourage one another,
and this all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Even in this time of pandemic, even if prudence calls us to remain away from the assembly, we can still enter in spiritually. Because the mass is in fact being celebrated we can still have access while less perfect, is no less real, by the desire and attention we bring to making a spiritual communion in the many options we have for viewing from where we are. And we can encourage one another as we see the day draw near when we will once again be able to celebrate in fullness, singing with full voices, unmasked, and unafraid, once the pandemic is just one more defeated foe in our past.
The hidden things of God are given visible representation in the offering of the mass in the house of God by our great high priest, Jesus Christ. There the inner reality of our renewed nature is brought out and made concrete. The spark within becomes a lamp to give light to the world. The more we give ourselves over to this reality the more we get.
The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you,
and still more will be given to you.
To the one who has, more will be given;
from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
And from there, as lights of the world, we find ourselves enriched to give ourselves away to others. And somehow, the more we give, the more abundance we find we have to offer.
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