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The veil of the temple was rent in two parts.  
Mathew 27, 50-51  
   
Le rideau du temple se déchira en deux All the three Evangelists, Mathew, Mark and Luke report this episode closely linked to Jesus’ death. When he was dying “ the veil of the temple tore in two from the top to the bottom” (Mathew, 27, 51; Mark, 15, 38) and Luke added “in the middle (23, 45). This fact was not visible from the location of the crucifixion of Jesus. What can be the meaning of the link given by the Evangelists between the death of Jesus and the tearing of the veil of the Temple?
 
   

Let us recall, in Jesus’ time, the temple was divided into a series of compartments or squares: one open to every body, even to the pagans, one open to women, another to men and finally one reserved to the priests. Following all these, there was one, sacred compartment among all, the Saint of the Saints separated from the others by a large curtain. The Great Priest was entering this place only once a year.

The death of Jesus is the end of a world and this is accompanied with signals like: “the earth quakes, the rocks split… (Mathew 27, 51).

It is also the end of the image of a God who cannot be reached, who asks for sacrifices, who requests purification rites, who guarantees a hierarchal image of the society and of the clergy…The veil of the temple rends and all these images burst into pieces. There are not anymore a secular world and a sacred world. God makes himself close to any body. Who is sacred it is the human being. Any body can pray God in the sanctuary of his, her conscience and is able to find in him/herself the presence of God.

  
   
In the mean time, it is the birth of a new world. Since the sacred presence of God does not live any more in the Saint of the Saints that is now open to all, it means that His presence does not depend on the rites, on sacrifices or on the priests.
naissance d'un monde nouveau
 
   
Jesus had already announced this new status to the Samaritan (John 4), she was asking him where to worship God: “ Believe me, woman, the time has come when you shall neither worship the Father upon this mountain (the Garizim Mount where the Samaritans had built a temple) nor yet at Jerusalem, true worshiper shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth”  
What is this new liturgy? Pompous ceremonies, esoteric speeches understood by a few, in specific places, are finished.  
   
au service pour les autres Like Jesus did, this new liturgy is the service of the others and in the sharing with the poorest “ I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me to drink, I was a foreigner and you welcomed me. I was a prisoner and you visited me”. From now on, Jesus is the new temple, the image of the invisible God and he transfers this visibility of God onto the face of our human fellows, men and women, to whom he want to be identified. It is there that the sacred visage of God is seen and nowhere else.
 
   
The temptation to reseal the veil of the temple has always been there. To confine God in a sacred place without easy access is more comfortable, more so for those who control its access, than to let us be taken by the care of our neighbours.