And suddenly there will come to the temple the LORD
whom you seek, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Yes, he is coming, says the LORD of
hosts. But who will endure the day of
his coming? And who can stand when he
appears? For he is like the refiner’s
fire, or like the fuller’s lye. Malachi 3:1B-2
All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,
“What, then, will this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. Luke 1:66
Piety
In his Sunday homily on
the Fourth Sunday of Advent at St. Mary of Sorrows, Parochial Vicar Rev. Christopher Hayes quoted this prayer by John
Henry Cardinal Newman. While this applies well to the story of Joseph in Sunday’s
Good News, so too does it apply to Zechariah, John the Baptizer and us.
The Mission of My Life
God
has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to
me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know
it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a
bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall
do good; I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth
in my own place, while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments.
Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am
in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve
Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He
knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among
strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future
from me. Still, He knows what He is about.
Study
Suddenly, Advent is almost
over (it seems before it began). We are
not ready for the birth any more than the disciples in the locked upper room
were ready for the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday.
The Bible is filled with
stories of people who are not ready.
Zechariah was not ready to hear the message about his son. In his disbelief, the angel temporarily
rendered him mute. While mute, he could
neither question the Lord any further about the grand plan for his life nor
could he tell his clan what happened in the temple. Words got Zechariah into trouble but his
actions – following the Lord’s plan not his own – got him out of his
predicament.
Action
What parent has not looked
with wonder down upon their child and tried to figure out what their new son or
daughter would become.
What wonders did the Bergoglio
family imagine for Jorge Mario? Living
in Vatican City was probably the farthest thing from their mind.
Did the Washington’s know
that little George would grow up to lead the colonies against an empire until
he resigned as commander-in-chief of the Army and retired to his home at Mount
Vernon, Va. on this date in 1783?
Did
the Moore family would wonder what would come of little Clement, never guessing
that on this date in 1823, he would publish the poem “A Visit from St.
Nicholas?”
The
Nichols family certainly did not suspect that their little Terry would be
convicted on this date in 1997 by a federal jury in Denver of involuntary
manslaughter and conspiracy for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
Nor
did the Malvo family ever consider that baby Lee would get sentenced to life in
prison on this date in 2003 from a jury in Chesapeake, Va., for his role as the
teen sniper.
We have a choice to find
our role in His plan to go about our own way.
His role can be quite disruptive to the life we think we want to
lead. Look at Joseph. Look at Zechariah. Look in the mirror and rad the prayer by
Cardinal Newman.
Today’s scriptures are
singed with references to the “great and terrible day” that the Lord “suddenly”
sends a messenger. As you hang on the
words, are you ready? Are we ready for
that messenger? What will become of us?
How can we get out of the predicament of our lives by following His way, not
our own? How will we endure the day of
His coming when he starts throwing our plans into the refiner’s fire and the
fuller’s lye?
What then will I be?
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