Pillar of Fire
One
Out of Egypt
In the Exodus, God set Israel free and gave them a visible sign of his presence and care: the Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night. The Book of Wisdom tells us: The Holy Spirit is Wisdom, Chapter 9:15. She deploys all her strength from one end of the earth to the other ordering all things for good, Chapter 8:15. Wisdom led the people of Israel out of Egypt and through the Wilderness in the form of the Pillar of Fire and Cloud, Chapter 10.
When the people thought Pharaoh and all his charioteers would wipe them out, the Pillar of Fire and Cloud stood between them and the Egyptian Army, shielding and protecting them. Even still, the people panicked. But God said to them, “You see my presence in the Fire and Cloud. I am with you.” Then Moses answered the people, “Have no fear! Stand firm, and you will see what Yahweh will do to save you today: the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. Yahweh will do the fighting for you: you have only to keep still.” Exodus 14:14
So the Holy Spirit, under the sign of the Pillar of Fire and Cloud, led protected, and provided for Israel.
Two
Mount Sinai and the Ark of the Covenant
Then, when the people of Israel were at Mt. Sinai, God gave them a new sign of the presence and care of the Holy Spirit, that sign was the Ark of the Covenant. In Exodus 25, God commanded Moses to build the Ark of the Covenant. Exodus chapter 40 concludes with the cloud overshadowing the Ark and filling it with the presence of the Holy Spirit. Then we are told that, “At every stage of their journey, whenever the cloud rose from the tabernacle the sons of Israel would resume their march. If the cloud did not rise, they waited and would not march until it did. For the cloud of Yahweh rested on the Ark by day, and a fire shone within the cloud by night, for all the House of Israel to see. And so it was for every stage of their journey.”
The Ark was the visible sign that the Holy Spirit was carrying the Israelites through every step of the journey. At the end of 40 years, in the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses said, “In the wilderness, too, you saw him: how Yahweh carried you, as a man carries his child, all along the road you travelled on the way to this place.” 1:31
God carried them every step of the way.
Three
Annunciation
Everything in the Old Testament prefigures what Jesus and Mary do for us in the New Testament. God gave the Israelites a visible sign of the Pillar of Fire and Cloud and then the Ark of the Covenant to show them that the Holy Spirit would carry them through the wilderness to the Promised Land, that the Holy Spirit would lead them, protect them, and provide for them. Now in the New Testament times of the Church God give us a visible sign of His Providential care, that the Holy Spirit will carry us through the wilderness of this life to the promised land of Heaven. That sign is Mary.
In the Annunciation (Luke 1:35), the angel tells Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you (episkiasei); therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” Exodus 40:34-35 we read, “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud overshadowed it (episkiasei in the Greek Septuagint), and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”
In both instances the word overshadow (episkiasei in Greek) is used to describe the Holy Spirit coming down upon the Ark and then upon Mary. Luke deliberately uses the same word (episkiasei) to describe what happens to Mary. The Holy Spirit overshadows her, just as the Spirit had overshadowed and filled the Ark of the Covenant.
The message is clear: Mary is the New Ark of the New Covenant.
Four
Visitation
Luke draws a parallel between two events, the Ark coming to David in 2 Samuel 6 and Mary coming to Elizabeth in Luke 1:39, to teach us that Mary is the New Ark of the Covenant. In 2 Samuel 6:2, “David arose and went to the hill country of Judah... to bring up from there the Ark of God.” In Luke 1:39, “Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah.”
“And David said, ‘How can the Ark of the Lord come to me?’” While, Elizabeth exclaims, “Who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” The Ark goes to the house of Obededom, Mary goes to the house of Zechariah. The Ark remained there for three months, Mary stayed for three months with Elizabeth. David and all Israel were rejoicing while Mary proclaims her Magnificat. David Leaps Before the Ark and John Leaps in the Womb of Elizabeth.
The Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament held the Word of God inscribed on stone tablets, Aaron’s priestly rod (a sign of priesthood), and the manna (bread from heaven). Mary, the New Ark, carries in her womb Jesus, the Incarnate Word, Jesus, the eternal High Priest, and Jesus, the true Bread from Heaven.
Five
We are carried by Mary
In the New Testament, the visible sign of the Holy Spirit is not a wooden box. The sign of the Holy Spirit is a virgin and mother. Mary is the perfect human expression of the Holy Spirit. So profound is Mary’s expression of the Holy Spirit that St. John Paul II says that she is able to serve as the Holy Spirit’s maternal “face”.
“From the Cross the Savior wished to pour out upon humanity rivers of living water, that is, the abundance of the Holy Spirit. But he wanted this outpouring of grace to be linked to a mother’s face, his Mother’s.”
Later in the same discourse, John Paul stated, “Calvary reveals the close and enduring link between the gift of the Holy Spirit and the gift of Mary as mother…The link between the gift of the Holy Spirit and the motherhood of Mary emerges again at Pentecost, when she awaited with the disciples for the coming of the Holy Spirit…therefore, as the bond with Mary grows deeper, so the action of the Spirit in the life of the Church grows more fruitful.:”
Just as the Israelites were led, protected, and provided for by the Holy Spirit under the sign of the Ark, so now the Holy Spirit leads, protects, and provides for us through Mary. She will carry us like she carried the Christ child.
Suggested Resolutions:
Choose one resolution for today to help you grow closer to God, or create your own. Here are some ideas to inspire you.
Every time you see an image of Mary holding or carrying Jesus, remember, the child in her arms is you. Let her carry you. In her arms, you are safe!
In times of doubt, imagine the pillar of fire and remember that God is with you.