Procession of the Ark of the Covanant
Ibinahagi sa amin ni Kapatid na Garry Dorado Asero Obillo
Ellen Gacho Deguit: Gar morning. .this is to let you know that I really appreciate and admire your doings. How I wish I could be a good shepherd and have the courage to evangelize others . But maybe I need to know all the catholic teachings and as you know I need to deepen my faith. I want to ask u if you don’t mind…when catholic religion started and why catholic filipinos celebrating ( correct me if I’m wrong)holy week whereas in Vatican which is known as our holy Land doesn’t? Yes there’s a Lenten season but they’re not commemorating the passion as what we are doing in Philippines. .I mean “the prosisyon”. Why I asked this? coz 1 of my colleague told me (which is a non catholic) that,what we are doing was like a pagans deeds. .I felt sorry for myself..I knew little about my faith. .anyway, I ask and pray that God will enlighten and use me as a good steward to myself and to others. .
Kasagutan ng ating kapatid:
Thanks sa appreciation Len, Yung unang tanung mo is, When was Catholic Church started ? in Jerusalem in AD 33 founded by Jesus Christ Himself , if you have a Bible you can read it in Matthew 16:13-18. And this list of Popes can add light to it, because only the Catholic Church can trace its roots from Pope Francis who is the 266th Pope of today down to St. Peter. And other religions that you can see today are just man made and founded by men, see this for example Whereas in the letter of St. Paul to the Romans in 1st Chapter verses 7 & 8 says:
7 to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy.* Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
8 First, I give thanks* to my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is heralded throughout the world.
Here St. Paul greeted the Church in Rome wherein the center of Catholicism is found, wherein no traces of other sects who was there except the Catholic Church during that time that St. Paul had wrote his letter.
St. Ignatius of Loyola said these words :
Whereas the so-called Protestantism has just began in 16th century when Luther revolted against the Church authority and during that time different sects and denominations has sprouted until today whereas, Jesus has established only a One , Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church (see also Matthew 16:13-18)
Question # 2. why catholic filipinos celebrating ( correct me if I’m wrong)holy week whereas in Vatican which is known as our holy Land doesn’t? Yes there’s a Lenten season but they’re not commemorating the passion as what we are doing in Philippines. .I mean “the prosisyon”
Lent is a 40 day preparation for the Triduum of Paschal Mystery of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the Holy Week starting from Palm Sunday where Universal Church ( Catholic Church) is celebrating.
When in fact last year Pope Francis has joined in the ” Way of the Cross” or ” Station of the Cross” Lent and Holy week are both undertaken by the Church, Lent is just a preparation for holy Week as I said earlier so it is wrong to say that Vatican is not doing it.
The Passion play or the Senakulo has its historical value for us, since we were not present on the very day of Christ Passion for our salvation., it was an old tradition practiced by the Philippine Church to remember how He had suffer for the sake of sinners.
1 Who would believe what we have heard?* To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up like a sapling before him,be like a shoot from the parched earth; He had no majestic bearing to catch our eye, no beauty to draw us to him.
3 He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, knowing pain, Like one from whom you turn your face, spurned, and we held him in no esteem.c
4 Yet it was our pain that he bore, our sufferings he endured. We thought of him as stricken, struck down by God* and afflicted,d
5 But he was pierced for our sins, crushed for our iniquity. He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by his wounds we were healed.e
6 We had all gone astray like sheep, all following our own way; But the LORD laid upon him*
the guilt of us all. 7 Though harshly treated, he submitted and did not open his mouth; Like a lamb led to slaughter or a sheep silent before shearers, he did not open his mouth.
8 Seized and condemned, he was taken away. Who would have thought any more of his destiny? For he was cut off from the land of the living,struck for the sins of his people.
9 He was given a grave among the wicked, a burial place with evildoers, Though he had done no wrong, nor was deceit found in his mouth.h
10 But it was the LORD’s will to crush him with pain. By making his life as a reparation offering,* he shall see his offspring, shall lengthen his days, and the LORD’s will shall be accomplished through him.
11 Because of his anguish he shall see the light; because of his knowledge he shall be content; My servant, the just one, shall justify the many, their iniquity he shall bear.
Isaiah 53:1-11
Procession of images like the Black Nazarene , Mama Mary and other images of Saints, Is a silent way of making evangelization, and first and foremost this was done by the early evangelizers wherein they brought images to introduce the faith to the natives. The best way to teach children is showing picture or images same as of the faith.
Procession and its Biblical basis :
The Ark Brought to Jerusalem.
1 David again assembled all the picked men of Israel, thirty thousand in number.
2 Then David and all the people who were with him set out for Baala of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which bears the name “the LORD of hosts enthroned above the cherubim.”b
3 They transported the ark of God on a new cart and took it away from the house of Abinadab on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart,
4 with Ahio walking before it,
5 while David and all the house of Israel danced before the LORD with all their might, with singing, and with lyres, harps, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.
6 As they reached the threshing floor of Nodan, Uzzah stretched out his hand to the ark of God and steadied it, for the oxen were tipping it.
7 Then the LORD became angry with Uzzah; God struck him on that spot, and he died there in God’s presence.
8 David was angry because the LORD’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah. Therefore that place has been called Perez-uzzah* even to this day.
9 David became frightened of the LORD that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the LORD come to me?”
10 So David was unwilling to take the ark of the LORD with him into the City of David. David deposited it instead at the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
11 The ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and all his household.
12 When it was reported to King David that the LORD had blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that he possessed because of the ark of God, David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the City of David with joy.
13 As soon as the bearers of the ark of the LORD had advanced six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling.
14 Then David came dancing before the LORD with abandon, girt with a linen ephod.*
15 David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouts of joy and sound of horn.
16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal, daughter of Saul, looked down from her window, and when she saw King David jumping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.
17 They brought in the ark of the LORD and set it in its place within the tent which David had pitched for it. Then David sacrificed burnt offerings and communion offerings before the LORD.
18 When David had finished sacrificing burnt offerings and communion offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts,
19 and distributed among all the people, the entire multitude of Israel, to every man and every woman, one loaf of bread, one piece of meat, and one raisin cake. Then all the people returned to their homes.
20* When David went home to bless his own house,j Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet him and said, “How well the king of Israel has honored himself today, exposing himself to the view of the slave girls of his followers, as a commoner might expose himself!”
21 But David replied to Michal: “I was dancing before the LORD. As the LORD lives, who chose me over your father and all his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people, Israel, not only will I make merry before the LORD,
22 but I will demean myself even more. I will be lowly in your eyes, but in the eyes of the slave girls you spoke of I will be somebody.” 23Saul’s daughter Michal was childless to the day she died.
2 Samuel 6:1-23 NAB
As you see the above passages from 2 Samuel, David a king dancing ahead of Ark of the Covenant.
What is Ark of the Covenant ?
Plan of the Ark.
10 You shall make an ark of acacia wood,e two and a half cubits* long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high.
11 Plate it inside and outside with pure gold, and put a molding of gold around the top of it.
12 Cast four gold rings and put them on the four supports of the ark, two rings on one side and two on the opposite side.
13 Then make poles of acacia wood and plate them with gold.
14 These poles you are to put through the rings on the sides of the ark, for carrying it;
15 they must remain in the rings of the ark and never be withdrawn.
16 In the ark you are to put the covenant which I will give you.
17You shall then make a cover* of pure gold, two and a half cubits long, and one and a half cubits wide.
18 Make two cherubim* of beaten gold for the two ends of the cover;
19 make one cherub at one end, and the other at the other end, of one piece with the cover, at each end.
20 The cherubim shall have their wings spread out above, sheltering the cover with them; they shall face each other, with their faces looking toward the cover.
21 This cover you shall then place on top of the ark. In the ark itself you are to put the covenant which I will give you.
22 There I will meet you and there, from above the cover, between the two cherubim on the ark of the covenant, I will tell you all that I command you regarding the Israelites.
Exodus 25:10-22 NAB
Image of an Ark :
This was based on Exodus 25 and Joshua 7:6
What is inside the Ark the detailed one :
4 in which were the gold altar of incense* and the ark of the covenant entirely covered with gold. In it were the gold jar containing the manna, the staff of Aaron that had sprouted, and the tablets of the covenant.
5* Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the place of expiation. Now is not the time to speak of these in detail.
Hebrew 9:4-5
Dedication of the Temple.
1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the princes in the ancestral houses of the Israelites. They came to King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD’s covenant from the city of David (which is Zion).
2 All the people of Israel assembled before King Solomon during the festival in the month of Ethanim (the seventh month).*
3 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark;
4 and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the tent of meeting with all the sacred vessels that were in the tent. The priests and Levites brought them up.
5 King Solomon and the entire community of Israel, gathered for the occasion before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen too many to number or count.
6 The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, the inner sanctuary of the house, the holy of holies, beneath the wings of the cherubim.
7 The cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the ark, sheltering the ark and its poles from above.
8 The poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary. They cannot be seen from outside, but they remain there to this day.
9 There was nothing in the ark but the two stone tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after they went forth from the land of Egypt.
10 When the priests left the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD
11 so that the priests could no longer minister because of the cloud, since the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.
12 d Then Solomon said, “The LORD intends to dwell in the dark cloud;
13 I have indeed built you a princely house, the base for your enthronement forever.”
14 The king turned and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while the whole assembly of Israel stood.
15 He said: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his own mouth spoke a promise to David my father and by his hand fulfilled it, saying:
16 Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city out of any tribe of Israel for the building of a house, that my name might be there; but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.
17 When David my father wished to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel,
18 the LORD said to him: In wishing to build a house for my name, you did well.
19 But it is not you who will build the house, but your son, who comes from your loins; he shall build the house for my name.
20 Now the LORD has fulfilled the word he spoke: I have succeeded David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD has spoken, and I have built this house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
21 I have provided there a place for the ark in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”
Solomon’s Prayer.
22 Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, and stretching forth his hands toward heaven,
23 he said, “LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below; you keep covenant and love toward your servants who walk before you with their whole heart,
24 the covenant that you kept toward your servant, David my father, what you promised him; your mouth has spoken and your hand has fulfilled this very day.
25 And now, LORD, God of Israel, keep toward your servant, David my father, what you promised: There shall never be wanting someone from your line to sit before me on the throne of Israel, provided that your descendants keep to their way, walking before me as you have.
26 Now, God of Israel, may the words you spoke to your servant, David my father, be confirmed.
1 King 8
Still about Procession:
Summoning the priests, Joshua, son of Nun, said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant with seven of the priests carrying ram’s horns in front of the ark of the LORD.”
7 And he ordered the people, “Proceed and surround the city, with the picked troops marching ahead of the ark of the LORD.”
8 When Joshua spoke to the people, the seven priests who carried the ram’s horns before the LORD marched and blew their horns, and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them.
9 In front of the priests with the horns marched the picked troops; the rear guard followed the ark, and the blowing of horns was kept up continually as they marched.
10 But Joshua had commanded the people, “Do not shout or make any noise or outcry until I tell you, ‘Shout!’ Then you must shout.”
11 So he had the ark of the LORD circle the city, going once around it, after which they returned to camp for the night.
12 Early the next morning, Joshua had the priests take up the ark of the LORD.
13 The seven priests bearing the ram’s horns marched in front of the ark of the LORD, blowing their horns. Ahead of these marched the picked troops, while the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, and the blowing of horns was kept up continually.
14 On this second day they again marched around the city once before returning to camp; and for six days in all they did the same.
15 On the seventh day, beginning at daybreak, they marched around the city seven times in the same manner; on that day only did they march around the city seven times.
16 The seventh time around, the priests blew the horns and Joshua said to the people, “Now shout, for the LORD has given you the city.
17 The city and everything in it is under the ban. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are in the house with her are to live, because she hid the messengers we sent.
18 But be careful not to covet or take anything that is under the ban;* otherwise you will bring upon the camp of Israel this ban and the misery of it.
19 All silver and gold, and the articles of bronze or iron, are holy to the LORD. They shall be put in the treasury of the LORD.”
Joshua 6
Maybe she\he will ask about it :
Repost : Why I asked this?coz 1 of my colleague told me (which is a non catholic) that,what we are doing was like a pagans deeds. .I felt sorry for myself….I knew little about my faith. .anyway, I ask and pray that God will enlighten and use me as a good steward to myself and to others. .
Maybe these last part of your post were already answered by the answers I had provided.
Kung Pagans, tingin nila sa atin, then, in their context what David did who is a man after God’s own heart is an act paganism also.
Maybe he will follow-up his/her question , then, please read it. (read here)
God bless you Len, with your desire, please read it all if you have time.
The verses here provides answers to their many questions.
Pasensya na sa talagang mahabang paliwanagan hehehe. May God bless you more and your family, sensya na kung minsan hindo ko agad masagot kasi, baka nasa work ako.
Ellen Gacho Deguit: wow! need time to read all of this..reading it for a while made my heart cry.thank you so much gar may God will bless you and your family always..Hope after reading and internalize my faith will grow…it’s so hard kc esp.you can’t express your beliefs and faith here in the kingdom. God bless ! Amen !
Naiintindihan ko sila, because I was one of them before. A Catholic who turn into Baptist and back again to the Catholic Faith.
Ang mga may mababaw lamang na pananampalataya na mga Katoliko ang nagcoconvert sa ibang mga sekta ngunit alam mo ba na marami sa mga nagcoconvert back to the Catholic faith are Pastors, president of Evangelical theological seminaries etc. See or watch their conversion stories sometimes.
The Journey Home (read here)