First Reading - Malachi 3:1-4,23-24
Gospel - Luke 1:57-66
The prophet Malachi announces that the Lord is coming to his temple, but before that coming there is a messenger who prepares the way. This preparation is not merely external; it is like fire and soap—images that unsettle because they purify. God’s coming exposes, refines, and heals. The purpose is not destruction but restoration: worship made genuine again, relationships set right, hearts turned back toward one another. The final promise is striking—parents and children reconciled, generations healed. Salvation begins where fractured relationships are mended.
The Gospel from Luke shows how this promise begins to take flesh. The birth of John the Baptist does not arrive with royal fanfare, but with wonder, silence, and questions. Zechariah’s muteness gives way to praise; a name given by God disrupts family expectation; fear gives rise to reflection. Everyone asks, “What then will this child be?”—because God is clearly at work beyond human planning.
John’s role echoes the promise of Malachi: he comes in the spirit of Elijah, not to dominate, but to prepare; not to draw attention to himself, but to turn hearts back to God. His very name—God has shown mercy—reveals the deeper meaning of purification. God’s refining fire is mercy that burns away what prevents love, truth, and faithfulness.
Dear friends, these readings invite us to examine how God prepares us today. Often, God’s work begins in hidden places: in silence, in obedience, in choices that seem small but faithful. Preparation for the Lord means allowing God to refine us—our motives, our relationships, our worship—so that when Christ comes, he finds not perfection, but openness.
Like the people in the Gospel, we are meant to ask not only who is this child? but also who am I becoming? When hearts turn back to God, when reconciliation replaces fear, and when praise rises from silence, then the way of the Lord is truly being prepared.
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