Christian Art | Noli Me Tangere | Jesus The Risen Lord With Mary Magdalene
Office Of Readings | Week 28, Tuesday, Ordinary Time | A Reading From The Instructions Of Saint Columbanus | Perpetual Light In The Temple Of The Eternal Priest
‘Light everlasting in the temple of the eternal high priest.’
Saint Columban’s reflection is structured as a prayer that unites watchfulness, inner purification, and illumination. His imagery of light and the burning lamp develops the biblical theme of readiness for the coming of Christ. The text opens with an allusion to Luke 12:37: ‘Blessed are those servants whom the Lord finds awake when he comes.’ The call to remain watchful is interpreted as a lifelong spiritual vigilance — an alertness to divine presence that stands in contrast to the ‘sleep of slothfulness’.
Columban connects this wakefulness with the fire of divine love. The image of fire is not merely emotional but theological: it signifies the energy of the Holy Spirit, which enkindles the believer and purifies the soul. The reference to light ‘beyond the stars’ conveys the transcendence of divine love, which originates not within the created order but in God himself.
The lantern burning ‘in the temple of the Lord’ recalls the sanctuary lamp of the ancient Temple and anticipates the believer’s body as a living temple of the Spirit. Columban prays that his lantern — his interior life — may burn continuously, providing light to others. The image unites contemplation and mission: illumination received from Christ becomes illumination shared. The ‘eternal light’ of Christ sustains and renews the lesser light of the believer, echoing the Johannine theology of participation in divine life.
The text then turns to the vision of the ‘holy of holies’. Here Columban draws on the temple symbolism of Hebrews 9 and 10, where Christ, the eternal High Priest, enters once for all into the heavenly sanctuary. The monk’s desire to ‘see only’ Christ expresses the monastic vocation to undivided contemplation — a turning of the whole self toward God.
The closing section extends this vision into a prayer for transformation. Love becomes not an occasional affection but the organising principle of existence. To be filled with divine love is to have one’s senses, thoughts and desires oriented toward God alone. The quotation from the Song of Songs — ‘many waters could not extinguish love’ (8:7) — places this love within the scriptural tradition of nuptial union between God and the soul, interpreted in Christian theology as the consummation of divine charity in eternity.
A Reading From The Instructions Of Saint Columbanus | Perpetual Light In The Temple Of The Eternal Priest
How blessed, how fortunate, are those servants whom the Lord will find watchful when he comes. Blessed is the time of waiting when we stay awake for the Lord, the Creator of the universe, who fills all things and transcends all things.
How I wish he would awaken me, his humble servant, from the sleep of slothfulness, even though I am of little worth. How I wish he would enkindle me with that fire of divine love. The flames of his love burn beyond the stars; the longing for his overwhelming delights and the divine fire ever burn within me!
How I wish I might deserve to have my lantern always burning at night in the temple of my Lord, to give light to all who enter the house of my God. Give me, I pray you, Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son and my God, that love that does not fail so that my lantern, burning within me and giving light to others, may be always lighted and never extinguished.
Jesus, our most loving Savior, be pleased to light our lanterns, so that they might burn for ever in your temple, receiving eternal light from you, the eternal light, to lighten our darkness and to ward off from us the darkness of the world.
Give your light to my lantern, I beg you, my Jesus, so that by its light I may see that holy of holies which receives you as the eternal priest entering among the columns of your great temple. May I ever see you only, look on you, long for you; may I gaze with love on you alone, and have my lantern shining and burning always in your presence.
Loving Savior, be pleased to show yourself to us who knock, so that in knowing you we may love only you, love you alone, desire you alone, contemplate only you day and night, and always think of you. Inspire in us the depth of love that is fitting for you to receive as God. So may your love pervade our whole being, possess us completely, and fill all our senses, that we may know no other love but love for you who are everlasting. May our love be so great that the many waters of sky, land and sea cannot extinguish it in us: many waters could not extinguish love.
May this saying be fulfilled in us also, at least in part by your gift, Jesus Christ, our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Christian Prayer With Jesus
Light of the world,
who dwell in unapproachable brightness,
kindle within us the flame of your love,
that our lamps may burn without ceasing
in the temple of your presence.
Grant that we may watch with clear eyes
and serve with a single heart,
until you appear in glory,
O Christ, our eternal priest and light everlasting.
Amen.
Glossary Of Christian Terms
Watchfulness – The spiritual discipline of attentiveness to God’s presence and readiness for Christ’s coming.
Lamp / Lantern – A symbol of the soul illuminated by divine grace; derived from biblical images such as the wise virgins’ lamps in Matthew 25.
Temple – In Christian theology, both the dwelling place of God in heaven and the human person sanctified by the Spirit.
Holy of holies – The innermost part of the Jerusalem Temple, representing the immediate presence of God; in Christian interpretation, it prefigures access to God through Christ.
Divine love – The love of God communicated by the Holy Spirit, purifying and transforming the believer.
Eternal light – A traditional term for Christ as the uncreated source of truth and life.
High Priest – A title for Christ, who offers himself once for all as the mediator between God and humanity (Hebrews 7–10).
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