Mountain And Church

Domine, quis habitat in tabernaculo tuo, aut quis requiescet in monte sancto tuo? Sed mons Domini nullus in terra est, omnis enim terra jam pridem per vitia hominum maledictis obnoxia est. Nam et in Adae operibus, et in Abel sanguine meruit offensam, et sub Noe habitantium peccatis fuit plena, et nunc quoque edita et excelsa quaeque montium fanis, templis sacrisque maculantur. Ergo non in talibus exspectandus hoc mons est. Sed ut editissimae humi partes montes nuncupantur, ita necesse est in his quae coelestia sunt maxima atque sublimia sub montis nomine opinari. Et quid sublimius Christo? quidve exclesius Deo nostro? Mons autem ejus est illud quod ex homine corpus assumpsit, in quo nunc habitat et sublimis et exclesus super omnem principatum et potestatem et omne nomen. Super hunc montem aedificata est civitas, quae non possit abscondi: quia sicut ait Apostulus: Non est aliud fundamentum nisi Christus. Ergo quia qui Christi sunt, in Christi corpore ante constitutionem mundi electi sunt, et Ecclesia corpus est Christi, et fundamentum aedificationis nostrae Christus est, et civitas super montem aedificatat: hic ille mons est, in quo quaeritur quis possit esse requiescens. In alio quidem psalmo de hoc eodem monte sic legimus: Quis adscendet montem Domini, aut quis stabit in loco sancto eius? Et Esaias nobis erit testis: Et erit in novissimis diebus manifestus mons domus Domini, et dicent: Venite, adscendamus in montem Domini, in aedem Dei Jacob. Et rursum Paulus: Vos accessistis ad Sion montem, et ad civitatem Dei viventis Jerusalem. Si ergo requiei nostrae spes omnis est in Christi corpore, et cum in monte sit quiescendum, montem non aliud possumus intelligere, quam corpus quod suscepit ex nobis, ante quod Deus erat, et in quo Deus est et per quod transfiguravit corpus humilitatis nostrae conformatum corpori gloriae suae; si tamen et nos vitia corporis nostri cruci ejus confixerimus, ut in ejus corpore resurgamus. Ad illud enim post habitationem Ecclesiae scanditur, in illo in Domini sublimitate requiescitur, in illo cum Angelorum choris, cum et nos simus Dei civitas, sociabimur. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis,Tractatus super Psalmos, Tractatus in Psalmum XIV Source: Migne PL 9 301c-303a

Lord, who shall dwell in your tabernacle, or who shall rest on your holy mountain? 1 But the mountain of the Lord is not on the earth, for all the earth on account of the vices of men has been cursed. For by the deeds of Adam and by the blood of Abel it has earned offense, and in the time of Noah by the sins of the people it was full of sin, and so any lofty and elevated temple on a mountain, along with its sacred things, are defiled. Therefore not among such things should we hope for this mountain. But as mountains are declared truly lofty parts of the earth, so it is necessary that the greatest and sublime things of heaven are referred to under the name of mountains. And what is higher than Christ? Or what is more exalted than our God? His mount is that body which He took up from men, in which now He dwells on high, exalted over all the princes and powers and every name. Upon this mountain is built the city which He is not able to forsake, for so says the Apostle, 'There is no other foundation but Christ.' 2 Therefore since those who are of Christ, in the body of Christ were chosen before the foundation of the world, 3 and the Church is the body of Christ, and the foundation of our building is Christ, and the city is built on a mountain, so He is the mountain, on which it is asked who can rest there. And in another Psalm we read about this same mountain: 'Who shall ascend to the mountain of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place?' 4 And Isaiah shall be a witness for us: 'And it shall be in the last days that the mount of the house of God is manifest, and they shall say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, into the house of the God of Jacob.' 5 And again Paul: 'You have drawn near to Mount Sion and to the city of the living God, Jerusalem.' 6 If, then, all our hope of rest is in the body of Christ, then the mount on which we should rest is not able to be understood otherwise than the body which he took up for us, before which He was God, and in which He is God and through which He transfigured the body of our humility to conform to the body of His glory; and even we, if we have fixed the vices of our body to His cross, in His body might rise. For the mount is scaled after dwelling in the Church, in which sublimity of the Lord there is rest, with choirs of angels, when even we are citizens of the city of God. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 14 1 Ps 14 .1 2 1 Cor 3.11 3 Ephes 1.4 4 Ps 23.3 5 Isai 2.2-3 6 Heb 12.22