We intended to develope this great, amazinly comprehensive and unifying theme by following the stages of its revelation and realization, the stages in fact of the economy of salvation; this of course by a means of a study of Scripture which, inspired as it is and guaranteed by God, provides the evidence of the economy of grace he has freely willed.  The economy developes along a line which embraces the whole of history and the world itself.  It had a beginning and it will have an end,  it began as a seed and it will reach a fullness of growth, and the whole process is dominated by the Person of Jesus Christ.  Hence the story of God’s relation with his creation and especially with man is none other than the story of his ever more generous, ever deeper presence among his creatures.

The story therefore is, up to a point, coextesive with that of humanity itself, we may even say with tht of the world.  So Holy Scripture not only speaks to us of God’s presence in all things, it also shows us God bestowing his presence on the first fathers of the race in a manner that we may almost call familiar.  However, it is not this particular chapter in the history of the divine Presence that we propose to write, but rather those that begin with the positive, collective economy of salvation when Abraham was called, (Genesis 12:1).  The early Fathers of the Church liked to note that God himself wished to establish the order of the worship through which men were to honor him.  God himself took the initiative in indicating to the Patriarchs and the leaders of the the people he had chosen to be his servants and witnesses, by what name and in what manner he wished to be adored, where in under what conditions he would come to dwell in the midst of his people.  Israel, realizing that the history of the world was to be essentially a history of God’s presence, and conscious  of the decisove character of his inspirations, saw in the place where God had manifested himself the decisive points in the existence and expansion of the whole of creation.  This was the case with the stone of Bethel and the Temple of Jerusalem.  It is this positve story of God’s own gracious initiative in establishing his presence among and with men, which it is our task to study.

It is devided into a number of characteristic stages forming a series in a continuous process of development.  With these we shall deal in a corresponding number of chapters.  Like every process of development this one has moments of anticipation and fresh starts.  David, for instance, anticipates the stage of the p[rophets, and Nathan’s prophecy, which was addressed to him, can only be understood in its prophetic sense when seen as anticipating furhter stages right up to that of the New Testament.  But, at the same time, David initiated the building of the Temple and so prepared the basis of the ritual worship against whose dangers the prophets were to react but which nevertheless prevailed for several centuries beyond the prophetic stage.

The reality of his Presence in the messianic era, that is the stage opened by the incarnation of the Son of God in whom and by whom all the promises are fulfilled, is found in the Church.  Hence we shall describe the Church in accordance with the texts of the New Testament which present her to us as the spiritual temple of God.  Not that the reader should expect to find in these pages a study of the nature of the Church, still less a complete treatise.  Nor will he find a complete Christology in the section where we treat of Christ who precedes the Church as the messianic temple.  To deal with these subjects would involve many other matters which the reader will find dealt with elsewhere-the hierarchical structure of the Church, her sacramental life, ect.  Abstraction, said the scholastics, is not a form of lying.  It is permissable not to say all that can be said on a topic, but to deal with it from one particular standpoint.

Like all God’s purposes, which this story of God’s dwelling with men expresses in one of their deepest and widest aspects, the story itself moves towards a definite end characterized by the highest possible degree of inward religion.  Its stages are those of increasing inwardness.  They move from things to persons, from fleeting moments of God’s presence to a presence that is lasting, from a simple presence of his action to a vital gift, inward communication and the joy and peace of communion.  Their final word is “God all in all” (1 Cor 15:18), “Its temple is the Lord God Almighty” (Apoc 21:22).  Truly this is a divine story filling the religous soul with love and strength!-From the introduction of THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE, by Yves M.J. Congar.  To access the book online click on Bible Commentaries in the pages box on the left side of this page.

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