The Rending of the Veil of the Temple
by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Our Blessed Lord had called His Body the Temple because the fullness of Divinity dwelt in it. The earthly temple of Jerusalem was only a symbol of Himself. In that temple of stone there were three great divisions. Beyond the court of entrance was a place that was called "holy," and beyond it a place more secret still, which was called "the Holy of Holies." The court was separated from the holy place by a veil, and a great veil also divided the holy place from the Holy of Holies.

The very moment that Our Blessed Lord willed His death:

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. [Matthew 27: 51]

The very fact that it was tom from top to bottom was to indicate that it was not done by the hand of man, but by the miraculous Hand of God Himself, Who had ordained that, as long as the Old Law should endure, the veil should hang before the Holy of Holies. Now He decreed that it should be torn asunder at His death. That which of old was sacred now remained opened and manifest before their eyes, uncovered like any common and ordinary thing, while before them on Calvary, as a soldier pierced His heart, was revealed the new Holy of Holies containing the ark of the New Testament and the treasures of God. The death of Christ was the deconsecration of the earthly temple, for He would raise up the new Temple in three days. Only one man, once a year, could enter into that old Holy of Holies; now that the veil was rent which separated holiness from the people, and separated the Jew from the Gentile, both would have access to the new Temple, Christ the Lord.

There is an intrinsic connection between the soldier piercing the Heart of Christ on the Cross, which drew forth Blood and water, and the rending of the veil of the temple. Two veils were rent: one, the purple veil of the temple which did away with the Old Law; the other, the veil of His Flesh which opened the Holy of Holies of Divine love tabernacled among us. In both instances, what was holy was made manifest; one, the Holy of Holies, which had been only a figure; the other, the true Holy of Holies, His Sacred Heart, which opened to the guilty access to God. The veil in the ancient temple signified that Heaven was closed to all until the High Priest sent by the Father would rend the veil and open its gates to all. St. Paul told how the high priest of old, only once a year, and then not without an offering of blood for his own faults and those of the people, was permitted to enter the Holy of Holies.

The Epistle to the Hebrews explains this mystery:

By this the Holy Spirit signifies that so long as the earlier tent still stands, the way into the sanctuary remains unrevealed. All this is symbolic, pointing to the present time. The offerings and sacrifices there prescribed cannot give the worshipper inward perfection. It is only a matter of food and drink and various rites of cleansing---outward ordinances in force until the time of reformation.

But now Christ has come, high priest of good things already in being. The tent of his priesthood is a greater and more perfect one, not made by men's hands, that is, not belonging to this created world; the Blood of His sacrifice is His Own Blood, not the blood of goats and calves; and thus He has entered the sanctuary once and for all and secured an eternal deliverance. [Hebrews 9: 1-12]

The Blood of Jesus makes us free to enter boldly into the sanctuary by the new, living way which He has opened for us through the curtain, the way of His flesh. [Hebrews 10: 19, 20]

If Thou hadst asked for whole-offering and sin-offering
I would have said, Here I am.
My desire is to do Thy will, O God,
and Thy law is in my heart.
In the great assembly I have proclaimed what is right,
I do not hold back my words,
as Thou knowest, O Lord. [Psalm 39: 7-10]

As for you, the blood will be a sign on the houses in which you are: when I see the blood I will pass over you; the mortal blow shall not touch you, when I strike the land of Egypt. [Exodus 13:1 3]

E-MAIL