Deacon Larry

 

Thursday of 4th Week of Advent

Mal 3: 1-4, 23-24; Lk 1: 57-66

Dc. Larry Brockman

In this season when we are expecting the joy of the coming of Jesus, why such somber talk about refining Gold and Silver?  Well, in the Gospel, this messenger sent by God, John the Baptist, talked about getting ready for the coming of Jesus.  John preached asking for forgiveness and then repentance, and he used a public a ritual of Baptism to symbolize a person’s acceptance of that conversion of the heart.  So, that’s how John foresaw getting ready for the coming of Jesus.  We must show our willingness to seek forgiveness of sins, and repent of our ways that led to those sins so that when Jesus comes, we will be truly ready for him.     

In today’s world, there is a troubling trend:  People downplay the seriousness of their sins.  Instead of participating in such a public ritual as John the Baptist performed, or even the public confessions that were practiced in the early Church, where one makes a public commitment to conversion, we have been blessed with private confession where we make that commitment to conversion to the priest.  That’s important- because human nature being what it is, we all have to face the need for accountability, not just for what we did or failed to do, but for our commitment to change, our conversion.  The priest serves as Jesus himself in that confessional and is bound to secrecy.  And yet, in recent years, people don’t seem to take advantage of this wonderful Sacrament.  Is it because they are sinless?  Is anyone sinless?  I think that the devil prompts us to sweep our sins under the carpet where we try to forget about them.  And though we may ask for forgiveness, do we really make a commitment to make a change?    Listen to the prophet Malachi’s words, because if we are not prepared when Jesus comes: then Jesus will purify us like refining of gold or silver or the threshing of wheat.  And that is meant to sound ominous, foreboding, and painful because ultimately we are accountable to God; we cannot hide that or sweep it under the carpet. 

Another thing stands out about the refining of gold and silver.  These are valuable, aren’t they?  So even in the midst of a very sobering message of painful refining or threshing, there is a beautiful message for all of us- that God sees us as so very valuable to him in our converted state, as valuable as the finest Gold or Silver.   

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 11:45 pm and is filed under Holy Family Weekday Homilies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.