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From: 1 Chronicles 15:3-4, 15-16; 16:1-2

Enthronement of the ark in Jerusalem

[3] And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the Lord
to its place, which he had prepared for it. [4] And David gathered together the
sons of Aaron and the Levites. [15] And the Levites carried the ark of God upon
their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word
of the Lord.

[16] David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brethren as
the singers who should play loudly on musical instruments, on harps and lyres
and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy.

The ark is placed in the tent

[1] And they brought the ark of God, and set it inside the tent which David had
pitched for it; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. [2]
And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings,
he blessed the people in the name of the Lord.

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Commentary:

15:1-24. The preparations for the transfer of the ark involve leading figures in the
life of the people and in the priesthood. Firstly, David himself, who makes arran-
gements about where it will be lodged (v. 1), calls the people together (v. 3), and
gives all the necessary instructions (vv. 4, 11-12, 16); secondly, the Levites, cho-
sen to be the only ones to carry the ark (vv. 2, 12) and organize the liturgical
chant (v. 19); thirdly, the priests, particularly those appointed by David â€“ Zadok
and Abiathar (cf. 2 Sam 8:17; 15:24-27; 17:15; 19:12), who are sanctified along
with the Levites (vv. 11, 14); and finally the entire people gathered in liturgical
assembly.

The liturgy of the Church uses much of this passage in the Mass of the Vigil of
the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, thereby teaching that Mary is the true ark
of the Covenant, the temple of God’s enduring Presence on earth. Apropos of
the Assumption, St John Damascene says, in a meaningful play on words, “To-
day, she who was the temple of the Lord is at rest in the divine temple that was
not built by human hand” (”In Assumptionem”, 2).

16:1-43. The Levites who brought the ark to Jerusalem are charged by David
himself with organizing the liturgy and its music. This definition of their role will
be a point of reference for those who succeed them, including those who were
alive when this book was written.

“To invoke, to thank and to praise the Lord” (v. 4), three essential elements of the
liturgy, are spelt out also in the psalm that follows. Invocation includes the joyful
remembrance of the wonders worked by the Lord (vv. 12, 15); thanksgiving means
acknowledging God in all his works (vv. 8, 34, 35); and praise of the Lord means
sharing in his glory, glorying in him (vv. 10, 25, 36). In Christian liturgy, as a res-
ponse of faith and love to the spiritual blessings God gives us, “the Church, uni-
ted with her Lord and ‘in the Holy Spirit (Lk 10:21), blesses the Father ‘for his in-
expressible gift (2 Cor 9:15) in her adoration, praise and thanksgiving” (”Cate-
chism of the Catholic Church”, 1083).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: 1 Corinthians 15:54b-57

The manner of the resurrection of the dead

[54b] [When] the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying
that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
[55] “O death, where is thy victory?
O death, where is thy sting?”
[56] The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. [57] But thanks
be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Commentary:

54-58. The chapter ends with the words of joy and thanksgiving to God for the tre-
mendous benefits bought by the death and resurrection of our Lord, benefits which
result from his victory over those enemies which had made man their slave â€“ sin,
death and the devil. Jesus Christ, by dying on the cross â€“ offering himself to God
the Father in atonement for all the offences of mankind â€“ has conquered sin and
the devil, who attained power through sin. And his victory was completed by his
resurrection, which routed death. This has made it possible for his elect to be
raised in glory, and is the cause of their resurrection. “In Christ”, Bl. John Paul
II explains, “justice is done to sin at the price of his sacrifice, of his obedience
‘even to death’ (Phil 2:8). He who was without sin, ‘God made him to be sin for
our sake’ (2 Cor 5:21). Justice is also brought to bear upon death, which from the
beginning of man’s history has been allied to sin. Death has justice done to it at
the price of the death of the one who was without sin and who alone was able â€“
by means of his own death â€“ to inflict death upon death (cf. 1 Cor 15:54f) [â€¦]. In
this way the cross, the Cross of Christ, in fact, makes us understand the deepest
roots of evil, which are fixed in sin and death; thus the Cross becomes an escha-
tological sign. Only in the eschatological fulfillment and definitive renewal of the
world will love conquer, in all the elect, the deepest sources of evil, bringing as its
fully mature fruit the kingdom of life and holiness and glorious immortality.

The foundation of this eschatological fulfillment is already contained in the Cross
of Christ and in his death. The fact that Christ ‘was raised the third day’ (1 Cor 15:
4) constitutes the final sign of the messianic mission, a sign that perfects the en-
tire revelation of merciful love in a world that is subject to evil. At the same time it
constitutes the sign that foretells ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ (Rev 21:1) when
God ‘will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more, neither
shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have
passed away’ (Rev 21:4)” (”Dives in misericordia”, 8).

56-57 The Apostle here provides a summary of his teaching on the connections
between death, sin and the Mosaic Law, a teaching which is given in a much
more elaborate form in chaps 5-7 of his Letter to the Romans. Sin is the sting
of death in the sense that death entered the world through sin (cf. Rom 5:12) to
do harm to men. Sin, in its turn, grew as a result of and was reinforced by the
Mosaic Law: the Law did not induce people to sin but it was the occasion of in-
crease in sin in the sense that made it plainer where good lay and yet did not
provide the grace to enable man to avoid sin (cf. “Commentary on 1 Cor, ad
loc.”).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.