On Jacob's Ladder

[The Chapel Homily this morning, in brief] I think he misses the whole point. He is lying down and looking up. He thinks the ground is holy there. What's holy is the man lying on the ground. He's one of the rungs in the ladder by which the God of Abraham would step down from heaven to earth in human flesh. Angels go up and down those stairs, accompanying the whole glorious condescension!

Some people think the Church is "holy ground" - "the house of God, the gate of heaven." It is, of course. But it is such because of the Person about whom we gather there. The God of Abraham who took the final step off the last rung, the Blessed Virgin, and stepped out upon the earth, the God who will not leave us or forsake us until He has brought us home again. HE is the promised offspring through whom all the families of the earth will be blessed. He is the union of heaven and earth, for He is both God and Man in His person, and by His holy cross and passion He has flung wide the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

Not the place, Jacob. YOU. Your flesh and blood - one of the precious rungs by which the Eternal Word stepped forth into human flesh. Glory to You, O Christ and to Your condescension!