Fourth Thursday of Advent

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. Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the LORD, as in the days of old, as in years gone by.

God wants to refine and purify us so we are precious and pleasing in His sight. He wants us to be polished and shaped by the virtues of faith, hope, and love so we can more perfectly reflect His Divine Image. We cannot fulfill this purpose if we mar our souls with sins and muddy them with imperfections. Each time we do evil or fail to do good, we need to be refined and purified once again through the fires of contrition and penance. Then, once we are made clean in the eyes of the Lord, we will become an acceptable sacrifice to God.

Are we willing to allow God to refine and purify us through whatever means He decides is best for us? Are we willing to make our lives into living sacrifices to God? How can we be more pleasing to God?

O Lord, refine the metal of our souls and purify us of all our imperfections.

Amen.