RBWords

     The patriarch Jacob exclaims these words upon waking from a dream in which he saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it.  This image has been influential both in subsequent scripture [cf. John 1:51] and in the reflections of the great church fathers (Irenaus, Origen, Gregory of Nazianzen, etc.), who saw it as the journey of a soul by successive steps to God.  However, Jacob does not go quite that far.  He attributes the dream to the place where he slept, indeed, the stone which served as his pillow!  He consecrates the stone with oil and calls it "Bethel" - the House of God.

     Volumes could be written on the importance of "place" and "space" in religious experience.  One might think of the common experience of awe when gazing at the stars on a clear night or standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon or other natural wonders.  The construction of the great medieval and renaissance cathedrals {Chartres, Cologne, St. Peter's in Rome, etc.) was meant to evoke the sense of awe in the presence of God.  It is hard to repeat our initial experience in such places, but the place itself reminds us, when we think of it or re-visit, of that initial experience.  Jacob's exclamation, "How awesome is this shrine! This is nothing else but an abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven.." is one that we can all share, whether it is in a great cathedral built by human hands or in God's great cathedral of nature, which can be anywhere from the stars to the human body or even Jacob's stone pillow. AMEN