The Catholic Defender: Virgin Mary Tabernacle

“The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, and she conceived of the Holy Spirit.” One way to understand what occurred at the Annunciation is to realize that by carrying Jesus in her womb, Mary became the tabernacle of God's real presence. Never before had the Most High been Emmanu-el, God-with-us as one of us.

The Annunciation paved the way for us to adore God in the flesh, initially present in the first tabernacle, Mary's womb. And so, we begin a nine-month pilgrimage with Mary to the Nativity; nine-months in which God 'emptied himself' taking on our weakest physical nature of total dependence on a woman.

Mary's bodily assumption into heaven is fitting because she is the new ark, and her body was taken up into the heavenly temple to be with God. 

Mary reminds us that we, too, carry Christ within us after receiving Communion, as living tabernacles. She helps us to see anew the meaning and purpose of the tabernacle each time we are at Mass, holding within it the Eucharist, the body of Christ.

Mary is a living tabernacle—and each time we receive the body of Christ, we are too.

Peter uses Noah’s ark as a type of Christian baptism (1 Pt 3:18-22).

• Paul explains that circumcision foreshadowed Christian baptism (Col 2:11-12).

• Jesus uses the bronze serpent as a type of his Crucifixion (Jn 3:14; cf. Nm 21:8-9).

• The Passover lamb prefigures the sacrifice of Christ (1 Cor 5:7).

• Paul says that Abraham “considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead; hence, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (Heb 11:19).

The Ark of the Old Covenant

consider the parallel between the Holy Spirit overshadowing the ark and the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary, between the Ark of the Old Covenant as the dwelling place of God and Mary as the new dwelling place of God.

Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296–373) was the main defender of the deity of Christ against the second-century heretics. He wrote: “O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all O [Ark of the] Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold! You are the ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which divinity resides”

Gregory the Wonder Worker (c. 213–c. 270) wrote: “Let us chant the melody that has been taught us by the inspired harp of David, and say, ‘Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy sanctuary.’ For the Holy Virgin is in truth an ark, wrought with gold both within and without, that has received the whole treasury of the sanctuary”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church echoes the words from the earliest centuries: “Mary, in whom the Lord himself has just made his dwelling, is the daughter of Zion in person, the Ark of the Covenant, the place where the glory of the Lord dwells. She is ‘the dwelling of God . . . with men’” (CCC 2676).