My dear parishioners,
Peace! On the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, 7 October, 2019, Pope Francis established the feast of Our Lady of Loreto, to be observed each year on the 10th of December. At the same time Pope Francis proclaimed a Lauretan Jubilee Holy Year to run from 8 December, 2019 through 10 December, 2020. There are fifty-one invocations in the Litany of Loreto. The following is a reflection on the thirtieth invocation: Tower of David, pray for us.
What does it mean to say that Saint Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mother of God is a “Tower of David”? The “Tower of David” is mentioned explicitly in Sacred Scripture (Song of Songs 4:4). The Hebrew Migdal David is also known as the Citadel of Jerusalem near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem. The current tower is may be the sixth edition in 2,500 years. That King David built in Jerusalem is clear from 2 Samuel 5:11. The chamber over the gates to Jerusalem may well be a part of David’s tower (cf. 2 Samuel 18:33). The Tower of David is probably distinct from the “tower of the ovens” mentioned in Nehemiah 3:11; 12:38 and the tower of Lebanon in 2 Samuel 8:6, let alone the infamous Tower of Babel we read about in Genesis 11:4-9. In his City of God, book XVI, chapter 4-5, 10, Saint Augustine (+430) addresses the Tower of Babel as an expression of the “impious pride” of wicked people who attempted to exalt themselves without God. Fortified walls and towers are recorded in 2 Chronicles 26:9-10; 27:4. The Lord Jesus also mentions towers in the Gospel (cf. Matthew 21:33; Mark 12:1; Luke 13:4; 14:28).
Merriam-Webster reminds us that towers as architectural structures are higher relative to the surroundings, either attached or standing apart from other structures and have been used as fortresses or citadels, offering protection and strength. In the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Saint Mary to Heaven she is “higher” relative to us. In the Communion of Saints she is very much attached to the entire Church, on Earth, in Heaven and Purgatory. Our Lady is a stronghold and defender of all the saints.
There have been many famous towers throughout history. The Tower of London (27 meters) where Saints Thomas More (+6 July, 1535) and John Cardinal Fisher (+22 June, 1535) suffered martyrdom and the Crown Jewels of England are kept, and the round Glendalough Tower (30.5 meters) in Ireland come to mind, as do the belfry of the Cathedral of Pisa (56 meters) and the Eiffel Tower (300 meters), a remnant of the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris.
Saint Mary, Tower of David is at once the daughter of Zion and daughter of Jerusalem King David’s city (cf. Lamentations 2:10; Psalm 137:8;2 Kings 19:21). She is a jewel in her Son’s crown and the Queen of Martyrs. With a voice sweeter than any bell she draws us to the Lord God.
Father John Arthur Orr