Psalm 86:2

The Lord loveth the gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. (Psalm 86:2 DR)

Being thousands of years removed from the founding of the Church, it can be easy to abstract its origins into a misty legend, and especially those men upon whom she was founded. We either make them larger than life, heroes without fear who conquered a world, or reduce them to cogs in a machine, warm bodies that happened to be in the right place at the right time.

We often forget that they were men like us all, with their own peculiarities, weaknesses, fears, hesitations and all the things that comprise our lot in this mortal coil. The difference is that they cooperated with God’s grace, allowing it to so transform their souls that they became the foundations of the nascent Church, their authority and charism passing down to their successors through the centuries.

The Psalmist previously considered the fundamenta, the “foundations” of the Church in the figure of the holy city of Jerusalem. To be a foundation entails that something forms the structural basis of any edifice; it is that upon which the building is built and keeps it from falling over. But now these foundations are seen under the figure of “gates,” in Latin porta, which translates the Greek πύλας.

Many modern cities do not have walls and thus do not contain gates, but in the ancient world a gate was crucial to the survival of a city. Since the gates were a natural point of attack for a besieging enemy, having strong and reinforced gates could be the difference between victory and defeat, between life and death. In peacetime gates were also the port of entry for trade and commerce, and were often where public affairs were conducted. Having many gates to a city or wide and impressive gates—beyond the logistical practicality—could also serve as a testament to the wealth and power of a city.

The Psalmist now considers these gates, which, while conceptually distinct from the foundations, are meant here more as an elaboration upon the foundations, which unfolds a two-fold aspect of the episcopate:

By the twelve gates we understand the twelve Apostles; for it is through their true and sound preaching that we all enter into the Church of God: their being called the foundations in another place is of no moment, for they are gates and foundations together; gates by their preaching, foundations by their support of the faithful. (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 86, 2.)

To enter “through” the gates into the Church is thus to enter through the Apostles and their teaching, for Christ commissioned them to do this very thing (cf. Matthew 28:18-20), and St. Paul links their preaching directly to them being sent by our Lord:

How then shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe him, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear, without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they be sent, as it is written: How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, of them that bring glad tidings of good things! (Romans 10:14-15 DR)

Thus, just as Christ is the foundation of the Church but also the Apostles as part of that mystical Body, so Christ is the gate but also the Apostles, for their preaching is Christ’s word and not their own:

Christ, to be sure, said, “l am the gate;” Christ is the gate, no doubt, because it is through his merits we all enter, and are saved; but the city has twelve gates and one gate, as well as it has one foundation and twelve foundations, for Christ was in the Apostles, and spoke through the Apostles, as St. Paul says, “Do you seek a proof of Christ who speaketh in me?” Thus, when we enter through the Apostles, we enter through Christ, because the Apostles did not preach up themselves, but through Christ, and Christ preached through them; and, when we are founded and built upon the Apostles, we are founded and built on Christ. (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 86, 2.)

The Psalmist also speaks of how the Lord “loveth the gates of Sion” above all the “tabernacles of Jacob,” which immediately speaks to the strength, durability and permanence of the Church. The Tabernacle of the Old Covenant was a mobile structure meant to be moved as the children of Israel sojourned on their way to the Promised Land. Even after the Temple was constructed this Covenant was prophesied to be temporary until our Lord’s promised coming in which God would make a New Covenant with His people. In this manner these things are all shadows and figures to be completed and perfected in Christ and His Body, which is why He is said to “love them” more than the shadows of the Old Covenant. The image of the “tabernacles of Jacob” fills out this identification:

“The Lord loveth the gates of Sion,” by reason of the strength of its gates, that render it impregnable “above all the tabernacles of Jacob;” loves those gates more than the tabernacles of Jacob; for, however beautiful and elegantly laid out those tabernacles may have been when the Jews were on their journey from Egypt to the land of promise, still they had neither gates nor foundations, and, therefore, were frail and temporary. (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 86, 2.)

This image of stability and strength in terms of foundations and gates is precisely the language our Lord employs when founding the Church upon St. Peter. The gates are not just for defensive purposes but rather serve an offensive function, the taking back of the world, as it were, from the dominion of the devil:

And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven. (Matthew 16:18-19 DR)

Our Lord thus invokes the “foundations” of the holy city by means of the “rock” of St. Peter on which those foundations are built, as well as the “gates” of this city by means of juxtaposing them with the gates of hell. For the gates of hell—which includes that final enemy, Death (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:26)—to not be able to withstand the offensive assault of the Church, is a testament to the authority with which our Lord has endowed her, notably in the “keys” of this kingdom which bind and loose in earth and in heaven.

There is a fascinating juxtaposition here, for the tabernacle was a mobile tabernacle and thus had no foundations or gates. As seen above, it accompanied the people on their sojourning. However, the Church is also in transit, sojourning towards her heavenly home. Yet she is spoken of as having gates and foundations, which would—on the surface—seem to preclude this sort of sojourning.

We might chalk this up to mixed metaphors, but perhaps there is a deeper reality. The Church as the mystical Body of Christ becomes, as it were, the fixed point in reality, united to our Lord in His sufferings. The Church thus becomes the place in which heaven breaks into this world, and around which the rest of the world moves. Thus she is “permanent” as united to our Lord, but advances in the world as the world is “turned” in conversion to faith and repentance. The Apostles as living gates and living foundations—just as all of her members are “living stones”—fill the world with the Gospel of our Lord, as the prophet Isaiah foretold:

They shall not hurt, nor shall they kill in all my holy mountain, for the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the covering waters of the sea. In that day the root of Jesse, who standeth for an ensign of the people, him the Gentiles shall beseech, and his sepulchre shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11:9-10 DR)

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I went pretty literal with this one, and just wrote out all the names of the Apostles. I then sequenced them and found a fun texture for the background and use a wiggle hold expression on it. I also precomped all the text and applied Shadow Studio 3. I finished up with some color correction.

Enjoy.

View a higher quality version of this gif here: