She watched the silversmith, hold a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: ‘He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.’ (Malachi 3:3)
She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, ‘How do you know when the silver is fully refined?’ He smiled at her and answered, ‘Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in it.’
Pope Francis said, “Jesus was lifted up on the cross to descend into our suffering, to plumb the depths of our human experience, to draw near to us and not abandon us in our suffering and our death. To redeem us, to save us.”
The process of making silver as an example of what it is like for God to refine us. God uses the heat of life to purify us until we see in the sliver vessel of ourselves, the image and likeness of Whom we have been made.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
St. Andre Bessette intercede for us.
May God Be Praised!
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