And suddenly there will come to the temple
Malachi 3:1-4
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.
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.
I already knew that a beloved childhood priest had admitted to molesting children at my parish and others, but last week the news came out that he’s been arrested. The article announcing this also contained details of what he’d done, and allegations that two bishops in succession knew what he was doing and shuffled him to different parishes. (Don’t read it unless you really want to be disturbed.) I admit, I found great consolation in yesterday’s first reading, threatening the purification of the priests. And then I found some catharsis writing this (the first version had a lot more fire and brimstone; this is the revision):
The infant to the Temple comes, the holy purifier, to wake again what grieving numbs and cleanse it in his fire. His voice will thunder, throbbing drums, the earth his thrumming lyre, but now his helpless youth bedumbs the words of judgments dire. The hands that hold him hold the power; he cannot fight their grip if by their tenderness he flower or if their hands should slip. If they should innocence devour and his defenses strip, he cannot run, though he may cower before the striking whip. But one day he will come in might, not as a child who pleads but as a warrior in the right to weigh our words and deeds. And all we've done, he will requite: the harvest of our seeds. So turn, turn now while it is light and staunch the wound that bleeds.
Kate Bluett 