"...For he is like the refiner's fire, or like the fuller's lye. He will sit refining and purifying silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, Refining them like gold or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to the Lord..." Malachi
When does the smith, the refiner, stop refining silver? When does he know that enough is enough? When does he realize he has final arrived at his goal?
When?
The smith ceases the process of refinement of silver the moment he can see his own reflection in the very silver he is refining.
He must keep a keen eye out for the brilliance of his own reflection shining through the process of refinement. This is when he knows that the impurities have been removed and the jewel of offering he now holds in his hands is ready to be presented.
This is the life of faith. When do we know we have been fully refined by the flame of God's love? When the power of the incarnation, the redeeming heat of the love of Christ has so touched us that in us the reflection of Jesus is seen most clearly. This is when we know the impurities have been removed and we are fully what we were made to be.
This is the moment when we are ready to be presented. This is when the Lord shall present us to his father as one of his own.
The presentation of the Lord, the feast we celebrate not only gets us to look back on when Jesus was presented in the temple but to look forward anticipating our own presentation in the new Jerusalem.
Jesus takes on our flesh so that he may transform and refine us: so that he might "redeem what opens the womb."
Moses tell us, "Let this, then, be as a sign on your hand as a pendant on your forehead: with a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt."
As we bless the candles to be used in the new year, we must remember the flame of faith we have received at baptism. We, too, shall become candles by which the flame burns brightly and we enter more completely into the refining fire of Jesus' embrace. By our life we present to us the redeeming power of God, his strong hand.
"Purify my love, purify my desire, purify me thoughts, purify my deeds, purify my will, purify my memory, purify my imagination; that I may be wounded for you alone sweet Jesus. that my life may radiate your light, your love, your charity, your wisdom, your gentleness, your truth, your perseverance, your devotion to the father...
Thus what you see and love in Christ you may see and love in me."
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