Day 3: Old Testament Foreshadowing

The third day of the Immaculate Conception Novena turns to the Old Testament foreshadowings of the Marian doctrine. The Catholic tradition has read several Old Testament images as types of Mary, anticipating in the figures of ancient Israel the woman in whom the Lord would take flesh. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception is, in this typological reading, the dogmatic articulation of what the Old Testament images had been pointing to all along.

Today's invocation

O Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord Jesus and our Mother... (the full opening prayer)

Today's meditation

Three Old Testament images have been particularly developed by the Catholic tradition as types of the Immaculate Mother.

First, the Burning Bush of Exodus 3:1-6. Moses encountered the angel of the Lord in a bush that was burning but was not consumed by the fire. The Catholic Fathers (especially Saint Gregory of Nyssa in the fourth century) read this as a type of Mary: the Mother of God carried in her womb the consuming fire of the divinity of the Lord Jesus without being consumed, just as the bush carried the fire without being consumed. The Marian liturgical tradition has preserved this typology in the Marian antiphons of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

Second, the Ark of the Covenant of Exodus 25:10-22 and the books of Samuel. The Ark contained the Ten Commandments (the Word of God), the manna of the desert (the bread from heaven), and the rod of Aaron (the priestly authority). The Catholic Fathers (especially Saint John Damascene in the eighth century) read the Ark as the great type of Mary: she carried in her womb the Word of God Himself, the true Bread from heaven, and the great High Priest. The Catholic Marian title Ark of the Covenant (preserved in the Litany of Loreto) draws directly from this typology.

Third, the Temple of Jerusalem as the dwelling place of the divine Presence. The Old Testament temple was the place where the shekinah (the visible glory of the Lord) dwelt among Israel. The Catholic Fathers read Mary as the new Temple: in her womb dwelt the very Lord whose glory had filled the Old Testament temple. The Marian title Temple of the Holy Spirit (preserved in the Litany of Loreto) draws from this typology.

Each of these images requires that Mary be free from the stain of sin. The Burning Bush could not have been a fitting type of Mary if she had been polluted by sin; the Ark could not have been a fitting type if she had carried any defilement; the Temple of the Holy Spirit could not have been the dwelling place of the Lord if it had not been pure. The Old Testament images, read together, anticipate the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.¹

Today's intention

Today, in addition to your principal intention, contemplate the Old Testament images of Mary as a Catholic preparation for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Immaculate Mother, the Burning Bush of Moses, the Ark of the Covenant, the Temple of the Lord, I venerate you under each of these titles. Make my own soul, like yours, a pure dwelling place for the Lord.

Reflection

The Catholic theological method of reading the Old Testament typologically has shaped Catholic Marian devotion since the patristic age. The Catholic faithful are encouraged to read the Old Testament not only as the historical record of ancient Israel but as the prefiguration of the realities that came in fullness with Christ and Mary. The Burning Bush, the Ark, the Temple, the Daughter of Zion, the Tower of David, the Garden Enclosed, the Sealed Fountain (the Marian images drawn from the Song of Songs), are all Catholic typological readings preserved in the Litany of Loreto and in the Catholic Marian liturgy.

This typological reading is itself a Catholic discipline. The soul that learns to read Mary in the Old Testament is the soul that is gradually formed in the Catholic understanding of the unity of Scripture: the Old Testament prepares for the New, the New fulfills the Old, and the Mother of God stands at the meeting point as the woman in whom the prophecies become flesh.

Closing prayers

Pray three Hail Marys in honor of the Immaculate Conception.

O Mary, the Ark of the Covenant, the Burning Bush, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, conceived without sin, pray for us.

Footnotes

1. The Marian typology of the Old Testament is treated extensively in the patristic Marian tradition. The principal modern survey is Luigi Gambero, Mary and the Fathers of the Church (1991, English translation 1999). The Litany of Loreto preserves the Marian titles drawn from this typology. Available in the Roman Ritual and in Catholic devotional manuals. ↩