Psalm 57:8 declares: “Awake, my soul, Awake O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn!” This is a poetic verse, but does it make sense? Normally, we think of the dawn awakening us as the first light comes through our bedroom window. But we never think that we must get out of bed when it is still dark so that we will awake the dawn – that if we do not awake the dawn, the dawn will not arrive.
The Old Testament temple faced east. It did so that it might symbolize the light of God’s presence within the temple. Each day, without failure, the dawning day manifested that God dwelt, in a unique manner, within the temple.
What was prefigured in the Old Testament finds its fulfillment in the Incarnation. In the prologue to his Gospel, John declares that, before the beginning of Creation, the Word was with God and was God. God created everything through his Word: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5) The Word is the life-giving light that shines in the darkness of sin
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