{"id":7999,"date":"2014-12-23T09:34:37","date_gmt":"2014-12-23T14:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/?p=7999"},"modified":"2014-12-23T09:35:48","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T14:35:48","slug":"the-redeemers-refining-fire-december-23-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/the-redeemers-refining-fire-december-23-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing to Receive the Redeemer&#8217;s Refining Fire, December 23, 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fr. Roger J. Landry<br \/>\nSt. Bernadette Parish, Fall River, MA<br \/>\nMass of December 23<br \/>\nDecember 23, 2014<br \/>\nMal 3:1-4.23-24, Ps 25, Lk 1:57-66<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>To listen to an audio recording of today\u2019s homily, please\u00a0click here:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"mep_0\" class=\"mejs-container svg mejs-audio\">\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-7999-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/12.23.14-Homily-1.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/12.23.14-Homily-1.mp3\">https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/12.23.14-Homily-1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mejs-container svg mejs-audio\"><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>The following points were attempted in this homily:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The\u00a0O Antiphon that frames our liturgical celebration today\u00a0is the same one we pondered yesterday,\u00a0<i>O Rex gentium et desideratus earum, lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum: veni et salva hominem, quem de limo\u00a0formasti.\u00a0<\/i>\u201cO King and Desired One of the Nations, O Cornerstone who makes one from both (who unites the house of Israel with all the nations): come and save the human person whom you formed from the clay.\u201d Why do we have the same one two days in a row? The answer to that question is good for us to know so that we can intensify our Advent each year. The ancient O Antiphons are used principally to frame the Magnificat in Vespers each night in the Church&#8217;s Liturgy of the Hours.\u00a0Vespers preserves the original order of the seven O Antiphons:\u00a0<em>O Sapientia<\/em>\u00a0(Wisdom, Dec 17),\u00a0<em>O Adonai<\/em>\u00a0(Lord and leader of the house of Israel, Dec 18),\u00a0<em>O Radix Iesse<\/em>\u00a0(Root of Jesse, Dec 19),\u00a0<em>O Clavis David<\/em>\u00a0(O Key of David, Dec 20),\u00a0<em>O Oriens<\/em>\u00a0(O Rising Sun, Dec 21),\u00a0<em>O Rex Gentium<\/em>\u00a0(O King of the Nations, Dec 22),\u00a0<em>O Emmanuel<\/em>\u00a0(O God-with-us, Dec 23). There is no O Antiphon for Vespers on December 24, because it is first Vespers of the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord. When the O Antiphon started to get used for\u00a0the Gospel verses, however, there was a problem, because there is Mass on Christmas Eve morning, meaning that there is a need for eight of them. So what was eventually done was a reorganization of the O Antiphons so that they would best correspond to the readings being given to us each day at Mass. While the first four days are the same (Dec 17-20), the Mass liturgies change the order of the others:\u00a0<em>O Rex Gentium<\/em>\u00a0is not only said on December 22 but repeated on December 23,\u00a0<em>O Emmanuel<\/em>\u00a0is moved from December 23 to December 21, and\u00a0<em>O Oriens\u00a0<\/em>is moved from December 21 to December 24, so that the words \u201cillumine those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death\u201d will correspond to the words of Zechariah\u2019s canticle in the Gospel. (I explain all of this to you because if you search on the internet for an explanation of the divergence between O Antiphons at Vespers and at Mass, you really won&#8217;t find one, and inquiring minds want to know!) But because the O Antiphons have been reorganized to accord more closely with the readings of the last four days before Christmas, they do provide a very useful interpretative key. We can see that again today.<\/li>\n<li>In the O Antiphon we describe Christ as the cornerstone who makes both one. That can describe how Jesus unites both Jews and Gentiles, but it is also meant to point to how Jesus came to help make us all one just as he and the Father are one in the unity of the Holy Spirit. One of the most important sources of unity that needs to occur is intergenerational. In the first reading, the Prophet Malachi announces the mission of John the Baptist, the new Elijah, and the Messiah to whom he would point. About John, God says, \u201cLo, I am sending my messenger\u00a0to prepare the way before me \u2026 to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children,\u00a0and the hearts of the children to their fathers.\u201d The mission of the precursor was to prepare the way and the day of the Lord, who, as the O Antiphon says, would seek to reunite us as one family. Malachi talks about intergenerational reunion that begins not just with dry duties of familial piety and an extrinsic obedience to the fourth commandment, but something altogether full of love, that the hearts of parents and the hearts of kids would be turned lovingly toward each other. That\u2019s one of the things that the Lord wants to have happen at every Christmas, that children, parents, grandparents, great grandparents, extended families all come together to be reunited in worshipping the \u201cDesired of the nations,\u201d in building their lives on him the cornerstone. We know that the disunity that happens in families occurs because of sin, when people choose to act as gods or want to be treated as gods, determining the law. That\u2019s why Jesus said he had come to bring not peace but the sword and that families would be divided three against two, parents against children, children against parents. This was not because Jesus came to divide \u2014 quite the opposite, he came to bring peace and unity \u2014 but when some members of the family place him first and other members of the family don\u2019t, desiring themselves to be first, division ensues. The work of John the Baptist in calling us to conversion is summoning us to this intergenerational reconciliation. This, incidentally, is something that Pope Francis likewise has been stressing, that society needs very much to give special care to the very young and the very old, those who don\u2019t have economic productivity and therefore are often left at the margins, while everybody obsesses about the productive and consumerist 29-54 age group. Pope Francis says that the real wealth of a society is found in its young (who fill everyone with hope for the future) and its seniors (who embody the wisdom of experience). He\u2019s seeking to bring about this intergenerational love in the Church, spending even a lot of his time last year at\u00a0World Youth Day in Brazil focusing on\u00a0how the young and the old should have a preferential care for each other. That\u2019s the mission of John the Baptist.<\/li>\n<li>The mission of Christ to whom John points is found in the heart of this passage from the Prophet Malachi. The Messiah would be \u201clike a refiner\u2019s fire, \u2026 refining and purifying silver. \u2026 He will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold or silver that they may offer due sacrifices to the Lord.\u201d Jesus\u2019 essential work in us whom he \u201cformed from the clay\u201d (O Antiphon) is purify the treasure we hold in clay vessels (2 Cor 4:7). We\u2019re\u00a0<em>gold<\/em>, in other words. We\u2019re precious. That\u2019s the way we were made, and even more powerfully that&#8217;s the way we&#8217;ve been remade to hold God himself within as our treasure. Over the course of time, however, we\u2019ve become full of impurities. We were made \u201cvery good\u201d but we\u2019ve become morally bad, and some very morally bad. But Christ doesn\u2019t leave us there. He comes to purify us, to burn off the dross, to \u201creform us \u2026 even more wondrously\u201d than the wondrous way he created us \u2014 as we&#8217;ll pray at Mass on Christmas morning \u2014 so that in fact we may build our entire life on him the secure cornerstone.<\/li>\n<li>That process of purification is implicitly alluded to in today\u2019s Gospel scene. At a superficial level, the reason why we have the birth and naming of St. John the Baptist two days before Christmas is that, historically, it preceded the birth of Christ, and since December 17, we have been traversing all of the proximate historical events of that first Advent. But the birth and naming of the precursor both point to the birth and naming of the one John came to announce, Jesus. If at John\u2019s birth, people wondered, \u201cWhat, then, will this child become?,\u201d how much more at Jesus\u2019 wondrous birth in the stable in Bethlehem will people ask that question. That wonder has forever been immortalized in one of our familiar Christmas hymns, \u201cWhat child is this, who, laid to rest, on Mary\u2019s lap is sleeping?\u00a0Whom angels greet with anthems sweet, while shepherds watch are keeping?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Likewise everyone was amazed at the naming of John. Everybody presumed he would be named Zach\u00a0junior and was shocked when St. Elizabeth told them he would be named John, since no one in his extended family had that name and it was the custom to name children after admired relatives. Since the husband and father had all the cultural rights at the time, they asked the muted Zechariah to indicate if he accepted the name and he famously wrote, \u201cJohn is his name.\u201d All were amazed not just at the surprising switch of names but at what the name John means: \u201cGod is gracious,\u201d or even more precisely, \u201cGod does grace,\u201d God gives us grace. Grace is not a thing, but a relationship, our participation as creatures in God\u2019s own life. John\u2019s name itself was a prophecy of what would come from the Messiah he would foretell: The Messiah would \u201cdo grace\u201d and give us a participation in his life. As this Christmas Day prayer announced above that is retained in the present offertory prayer indicates to us, by his taking on our humanity, God has made it possible for us to share in his divinity.<\/li>\n<li>And so as we look from the naming of John to the naming of Jesus, we see precisely how this happens. The prophet Isaiah and the angel had announced that the child of Mary would be called &#8220;Emmanuel&#8221; and &#8220;Jesus,&#8221; respectively &#8220;God-with-us&#8221; and &#8220;God-saves.&#8221; Jesus was coming to \u201cdo grace,\u201d to make us sharers in the divine nature, and the way he would do that\u00a0is by saving us from our sins, by refining our gold in the fire of his merciful love.<\/li>\n<li>So as we come forward today to receive within us the\u00a0<em>Desideratus gentium<\/em>, the long desired of all peoples, we ask him to \u201cdo grace\u201d in us, to help us to build our life on him the cornerstone, and to wondrously remake us, our families, our parish, the Church, and the world, to be the gold he intended us always to be and bringing us through this holy Communion into one body, one Spirit in him!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>The readings for today\u2019s Mass were:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"bibleReadingsWrapper\">\n<h4>Reading 1\u00a0<a id=\"\/bible\/malachi\/3:1|\" href=\"http:\/\/usccb.us8.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=b927174dbe854683d4b527f98&amp;id=9aad9f3ac8&amp;e=b55e3798ee\">mal 3:1-4, 23-24<\/a><\/h4>\n<div class=\"poetry\">Thus says the Lord GOD:<br \/>\nLo, I am sending my messenger<br \/>\nto prepare the way before me;<br \/>\nAnd suddenly there will come to the temple<br \/>\nthe LORD whom you seek,<br \/>\nAnd the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.<br \/>\nYes, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.<br \/>\nBut who will endure the day of his coming?<br \/>\nAnd who can stand when he appears?<br \/>\nFor he is like the refiner\u2019s fire,<br \/>\nor like the fuller\u2019s lye.<br \/>\nHe will sit refining and purifying silver,<br \/>\nand he will purify the sons of Levi,<br \/>\nRefining them like gold or like silver<br \/>\nthat they may offer due sacrifice to the LORD.<br \/>\nThen the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem<br \/>\nwill please the LORD,<br \/>\nas in the days of old, as in years gone by.Lo, I will send you<br \/>\nElijah, the prophet,<br \/>\nBefore the day of the LORD comes,<br \/>\nthe great and terrible day,<br \/>\nTo turn the hearts of the fathers to their children,<br \/>\nand the hearts of the children to their fathers,<br \/>\nLest I come and strike<br \/>\nthe land with doom.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bibleReadingsWrapper\">\n<h4>Responsorial Psalm\u00a0<a id=\"\/bible\/psalms\/25:4|\" href=\"http:\/\/usccb.us8.list-manage1.com\/track\/click?u=b927174dbe854683d4b527f98&amp;id=6894d36cf7&amp;e=b55e3798ee\">ps 25:4-5ab, 8-9, 10 and 14<\/a><\/h4>\n<div class=\"poetry\">R. (see Luke 21:28)<strong>\u00a0Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.<\/strong><br \/>\nYour ways, O LORD, make known to me;<br \/>\nteach me your paths,<br \/>\nGuide me in your truth and teach me,<br \/>\nfor you are God my savior.<br \/>\nR.\u00a0<strong>Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.<\/strong><br \/>\nGood and upright is the LORD;<br \/>\nthus he shows sinners the way.<br \/>\nHe guides the humble to justice,<br \/>\nhe teaches the humble his way.<br \/>\nR.\u00a0<strong>Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.<\/strong><br \/>\nAll the paths of the LORD are kindness and constancy<br \/>\ntoward those who keep his covenant and his decrees.<br \/>\nThe friendship of the LORD is with those who fear him,<br \/>\nand his covenant, for their instruction.<br \/>\nR.\u00a0<strong>Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4>Alleluia<\/h4>\n<p>R.\u00a0<strong>Alleluia, alleluia.<\/strong><br \/>\nO King of all nations and keystone of the Church;<br \/>\ncome and save man, whom you formed from the dust!<br \/>\nR.\u00a0<strong>Alleluia, alleluia.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bibleReadingsWrapper\">\n<h4>Gospel\u00a0<a id=\"\/bible\/luke\/1:57|\" href=\"http:\/\/usccb.us8.list-manage1.com\/track\/click?u=b927174dbe854683d4b527f98&amp;id=3299c8cb77&amp;e=b55e3798ee\">lk 1:57-66<\/a><\/h4>\n<div class=\"poetry\">When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child<br \/>\nshe gave birth to a son.<br \/>\nHer neighbors and relatives heard<br \/>\nthat the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her,<br \/>\nand they rejoiced with her.<br \/>\nWhen they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child,<br \/>\nthey were going to call him Zechariah after his father,<br \/>\nbut his mother said in reply,<br \/>\n\u201cNo. He will be called John.\u201d<br \/>\nBut they answered her,<br \/>\n\u201cThere is no one among your relatives who has this name.\u201d<br \/>\nSo they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.<br \/>\nHe asked for a tablet and wrote, \u201cJohn is his name,\u201d<br \/>\nand all were amazed.<br \/>\nImmediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,<br \/>\nand he spoke blessing God.<br \/>\nThen fear came upon all their neighbors,<br \/>\nand all these matters were discussed<br \/>\nthroughout the hill country of Judea.<br \/>\nAll who heard these things took them to heart, saying,<br \/>\n\u201cWhat, then, will this child be?<br \/>\nFor surely the hand of the Lord was with him.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fr. Roger J. Landry St. Bernadette Parish, Fall River, MA Mass of December 23 December 23, 2014 Mal 3:1-4.23-24, Ps 25, Lk 1:57-66 &nbsp; To listen to an audio recording of today\u2019s homily, please\u00a0click here:\u00a0 &nbsp; &nbsp; The following points were attempted in this homily:\u00a0 The\u00a0O Antiphon that frames our liturgical celebration today\u00a0is the same [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7414,1063,3,5],"tags":[3924,3945,7566,7565,2114,7567,2184,999,1086,476,3942,695,7564,3947,4309,7568,68],"class_list":["post-7999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2014-2015-year-i","category-audio-homily","category-homily","category-year-i","tag-elizabeth","tag-emmanuel","tag-honoring-father-and-father","tag-intergenerational-solidarity","tag-jesus","tag-john-is-his-name","tag-john-the-baptist","tag-lk-157-66","tag-mal-31-4-23-24","tag-o-antiphons","tag-o-rex-gentium","tag-ps-25","tag-qui-facis-utraque-unum","tag-refiners-fire","tag-unity","tag-what-child-is-this","tag-zechariah"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Preparing to Receive the Redeemer&#039;s Refining Fire, December 23, 2014 - Catholic Preaching<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/the-redeemers-refining-fire-december-23-2014\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Preparing to Receive the Redeemer&#039;s Refining Fire, December 23, 2014 - Catholic Preaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fr. 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Landry St. Bernadette Parish, Fall River, MA Mass of December 23 December 23, 2014 Mal 3:1-4.23-24, Ps 25, Lk 1:57-66 &nbsp; To listen to an audio recording of today\u2019s homily, please\u00a0click here:\u00a0 &nbsp; &nbsp; The following points were attempted in this homily:\u00a0 The\u00a0O Antiphon that frames our liturgical celebration today\u00a0is the same [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/the-redeemers-refining-fire-december-23-2014\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic Preaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-23T14:34:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-23T14:35:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/DefaultImage-FB.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. 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Landry St. Bernadette Parish, Fall River, MA Mass of December 23 December 23, 2014 Mal 3:1-4.23-24, Ps 25, Lk 1:57-66 &nbsp; To listen to an audio recording of today\u2019s homily, please\u00a0click here:\u00a0 &nbsp; &nbsp; The following points were attempted in this homily:\u00a0 The\u00a0O Antiphon that frames our liturgical celebration today\u00a0is the same [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/the-redeemers-refining-fire-december-23-2014\/","og_site_name":"Catholic Preaching","article_published_time":"2014-12-23T14:34:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-12-23T14:35:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/DefaultImage-FB.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Fr. Roger Landry","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fr. 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