Sermo B. hilarii de dedicatione ecclesiae

Sermon of Blessed Hilary on the Dedication of a Church, Delivered at Poitiers in the Church Itself Consecrated There. Because, dearest brethren, by the favor of the Godhead we celebrate the solemnities of the dedication of the Church, we ought to be in harmony with the solemnity we observe, so that just as we have more carefully adorned the walls of this same Church, lit many lamps, increased the number of readings, added the melody of the Psalms, and spent the night in joyful vigils according to custom, so also we may always adorn the inner chambers of our hearts with the necessary ornaments of good works. May the flame of divine piety and fraternal charity always increase within us; may the memory of heavenly precepts and the holy sweetness of angelic praise always resound in the sanctuary of our breast. For these are the fruits of the good tree, this is the treasure of the good heart, these are the foundations of the wise Architect, which today’s reading from the Holy Gospel commends to us, that we should have not merely the form, but rather the virtue of piety: which the mystical history of the Old Testament also diligently suggests, when either Moses built the tabernacle, or Solomon built the temple for the Lord, as a type of the Holy Church; for both houses are reported to have been firmly founded: the tabernacle indeed, which had walls made of joined planks set upon silver bases, but the temple upon squared stones placed as a foundation.

The timbers also were incorruptible, from which the entire Tabernacle was made, and the Temple was adorned within, and the roof above gleamed. Moreover, they brought forth the best gold from a good treasury, with which the walls were clothed within and without; not only the walls of the Temple, but also the ceilings, beams, doors, doorposts, and pavements were covered. And the vessels or utensils of both houses were almost entirely of gold, nor was it permitted to make these except from the purest gold. The fruits of the trees, which were offered in the house of the Lord, were ordered to be the purest and most exquisite: that is, the vine, the olive, frankincense, myrrh, or stacte, and others of this kind; all of which, when spiritually understood, proclaim the sincerity of our Faith and operation. For both houses, as we have said, prefigure the figure of the Universal Church. Nor should anyone deem it incongruous that there are two houses of the Lord made in mystery, since no believer doubts that the one house of Christ is the Church. For two houses were built to signify both peoples who would come into the same Faith, namely the Jew and the Gentile. Hence the Tabernacle was well built by the Jewish people alone in the wilderness. But the construction of the Temple was completed with devoted faith by Proselytes and strangers from among the Gentiles, as many as could then be found among the people.

But also the most powerful king, Tyre, summoned by Solomon with borrowed craftsmen, very gladly assisted with timbers, because indeed before the Lord's incarnation God was known only in Judea. But after He, in the flesh in which He was born and suffered, was resurrected from the dead and exalted above the heavens as God, the glory of His name immediately shone over all the earth, and the whole world hastened to the building of that house and received from Him the promise of heavenly gifts. Therefore, Scripture relates that King Solomon ordered that great stones be taken for the foundations of the Temple and squared. Now the great precious stones, placed in the foundation, bearing the entire weight of the Temple set upon them, signify the outstanding Doctors of the holy Church—great indeed in excellence of minds, precious in clarity of signs—who, hearing the word from the Lord Himself, generated the entire fabric of the growing Church by their preaching. These stones the king ordered to be squared, to indicate that the teachers of the Church ought to be composed in character and immovable in spirit. Just as a square, wherever it is turned, will stand, so indeed the life of the perfect, which is carefully directed to the line of truth, knows how to be cast down from its stability by no impulses of temptations.

Now the Temple of God was built of Parian marble, that is, of white stone, so as to express the whiteness of ecclesiastical chastity, concerning which the Lord says in the Song of Love: "As a lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters." The same Temple had sixty cubits in length, thirty cubits in width, forty cubits in height. Therefore the length of the Temple signifies the faith of the holy Church, through which she patiently endures the adversities of the wicked among her good works; the width signifies charity, by which she herself ranges inwardly through the bowels of piety; the height signifies hope, by which, on account of the good works that are performed through charity, she awaits the rewards of heavenly life. And rightly the length is sixty cubits. For by the number six the perfection of good works is customarily signified, because God also made the adornment of the world in six days, and there are six ages of this world, in which the holy Church presses on with pious deeds for the sake of eternal rest. Rightly the width is thirty cubits, because the precept of charity is twofold, since the Church is enlarged in tribulation, when each perfect person must love the Creator with whole heart, whole soul, whole strength, and the neighbor as himself. Rightly the height is forty cubits, because the hope of all the Elect hastens, as much as it is able, by exercising and purifying itself, toward the vision of the holy Trinity.

It should be noted that the thirty cubits of height did not extend to the highest peak of the temple, but only to the paneled ceilings of the temple; then, to the paneled ceilings of the middle tabernacle, another thirty cubits of height rose up. Moreover, the upper chamber, which remained, had sixty cubits in width, and thus the entire height of the house was extended to one hundred and twenty cubits. Therefore, the first house rises thirty cubits in height because the present Church is suspended with all its intention to behold the appearance of the Holy Trinity. The upper house equally raises itself thirty cubits high because the souls of the perfect, freed from their bodies, enjoy the present vision of the same blessed and undivided Trinity until the day of the universal Judgment. The highest house is sixty cubits high because all the elect, raised from the dead, will rejoice in the contemplation of the same their Creator, who is one God in three persons, with the eternal immortality of both spirit and flesh. A middle wall was made in the temple of cedar planks twenty cubits high, which would divide the oracle into the Holy of Holies; from the front part of the temple it had twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in height. Moreover, the temple itself before the doors of the oracle was fifteen cubits, in which were the tables and the golden candelabrum.

But also the golden altar near the door of the Oracle, so that when incense is burned on it, the rising cloud of smoke would cover the oracle, where the Ark of the Covenant was, above which were the Cherubim of glory overshadowing the Mercy Seat. Therefore, the first house designates the state of the former Church; the interior designates the entrance to the heavenly life. Hence, the table and candelabra were rightly made for the former, because clearly in this life we have need of the light of the holy Scriptures and the refreshment of the heavenly Sacraments; in the future, however, we will not need such aids, where, according to the Psalmist’s word, whoever appears with righteousness will be filled with the manifest glory of the Lord. In this life, therefore, the hearts of the just, like a golden incense altar, shine brightly through the purity of holiness. They are filled with the spices of spiritual desires, they burn with the fire of continuous love, and, placed as if at the entrance to heaven, they send forth the most sweet vapor of prayer into the holy of holies above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, whom the Ark of the Testament, which was within the veil, most clearly designates; in which were a golden urn containing Manna, and the Rod of Aaron which had budded, and the Tablets of the Testament. For that Ark itself designates the nature of his humanity; the urn of manna, the fullness of his divinity; the Rod of Aaron, the inviolable power of his priesthood; the Tablets of the Testament designate that he himself is the one who established the law, and who will also give blessing to those who keep the law.

Now the Temple in front of the door of the Oracle was fifteen cubits in length, because in this life one must still be disciplined by fasts and continence, so that we may seem to arrive at the satiety of inner sweetness; for everyone who wishes to understand correctly the forty-day fast of Moses, or of Elijah, or of the Lord Himself knows that this number signifies the discipline of the present life. The Oracle itself, in which the Ark, which was covered by the Cherubim of glory, had twenty cubits in length, width, and height—a number that, as we have said, suggests the perfection of twofold love, because whatever is undertaken for God in this pilgrimage is all completed in that dwelling of the eternal homeland, where His magnificence is exalted by the continuous praise of good spirits, solely in the breadth of love. This, dearest ones, it has pleased us to set forth to your fraternity a few things from many concerning the construction of the Temple, for the joy of our present feast, so that the wondrous fabric of the earthly house might delight the hearers, and that these same things, understood spiritually, might raise our minds more ardently to the love of the heavenly dwelling. But even with the dedication thus explained and the festivity following, the Scripture concluded thus (3 Kings).

And Solomon dismissed the peoples, who, blessing the king, went forth into their tents, rejoicing and with cheerful heart over all the good things which the Lord had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people. For the Lord, once the work of redemption is completed, will dismiss his elect into eternal tents, rejoicing; he will no longer remove them from his presence, but, from the peril of the judgment which, as the Apostle teaches, is to be held in the air (1 Thess. 4:16), he will send them into the habitation of the heavenly homeland, so that each may receive the promised seat of the heavenly kingdom according to his own merits. Now it is well said that, blessing the king, they went forth into their tents, because this is indeed the most peaceful and most faithful occupation of the heavenly citizens: to sing hymns of thanksgiving to their creator. For thus it is written (Ps. 83:5): "Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they will praise you forever and ever." Rejoicing in time, and with cheerful heart over all the good things which the Lord had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people. Indeed, the righteous, rejoicing over the good things they receive from the Lord, enter the tents of the heavenly mansions, because, however heavy the labors of this world, however long they may have been, whatever is ended by eternal blessedness is surely brief and light.

Therefore, dearest ones, it is fitting that each one of us, in the building of the House of God, by exhorting, by beseeching, by rebuking, by himself laboring in pious works, should press on as much as he is able, lest, if the Heavenly King should now see anyone idle in the work of his temple, he should render that one excluded from the time of the future dedication, from his great solemnity. Let us strive with mutual aid of charity, so that, finding all of you with cheerful heart and untiring in the works which he himself has commanded, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father, God, in the unity of the Holy Spirit through all the ages of ages, may lead you all to the rewards which he has promised, to his perpetual vision. Amen.