Day 11: The Palace, and the Girl Who Said She Had No Palace
Day 11 of the Shoonoyo Fast
The Palace, and the Girl Who Said She Had No Palace
What makes a palace a palace?
Not its size, beauty or wealth. A palace matters because the king lives there.
St Ephrem calls the Blessed Virgin a royal palace for precisely this reason:
“She is a royal palace, because of You, O Royal Son.”
Yet in a beautiful Syriac dialogue with the Magi, Mary looks at the poverty of her home and wonders how they could possibly have come there looking for a king. There is no royal treasure, no splendour, nothing regal to see.
The Magi know what she cannot yet see.
The house may be poor. The King is not.
Perhaps that is something we need to hear on Day 11 of the fast. We can look at our own spiritual lives and see only what is unfinished, distracted and ordinary.
But God has never needed grandeur before He comes to dwell.
The King chooses the address. His presence makes the palace.
📖 Read Day 11: The Palace, and the Girl Who Said She Had No Palace on Seeking Theosis.
