Article 4 of Advent-Jubilee Series: Messengers of Hope, Peace, and the Image of God

We have gone through mountains, Mary, Mystery in preparation for Advent and this Jubilee Year.   Now, we will reflect upon messengers.  We will reflect upon being messengers of hope, peace, and the image of Christ.

We must be messengers of hope.  Do we build people up or do we tear them down?  Do we not let, “evil talk come out of [our] mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear” (Eph. 4:29) as St. Paul reminds us?  Pope Benedict XVI has brilliant insight into being a messenger of this virtue.   He writes:

[I]t is only the person who has memories who can hope.  The person who has never experienced goodness and kindness simply does not know what such things are…if …[he or she] succeeds in recalling a memory of some good experience, he may once again be able to believe in goodness and thus relearn hope; then there is a way out of despair.   To poison the past does not give hope: it destroys its emotional foundations (Seek That Which is Above, pp.14-15).

We must help people to experience goodness and kindness through our lives so they can “relearn hope.”    We also must connect goodness and hope to truth as the Responsorial Psalm (Ps. 25:4-5) reminds us, “teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me.”  To be guided in the ways of truth and hope, we must say only those things which are good.  Sometimes pronouncing the good means correction and that can make people uncomfortable.  But we must remember that hope is theological virtue that God will provide everything necessary for Heaven, not simply this life.  Thus, we must make sure we are directing people toward Heaven and the Christ-child, not simply this life.  This may mean correction.  Uncharitable Correction can bear bad fruit, but no correction disconnects hope from truth who is God.  Thus, both false types of correction prevent us from being messengers of hope. 

We are also called to be messengers of peace.  Peace is not simply the absence of conflict, but it is right order and unity.   Some things are not meant to be separated as once again St. Paul tells us, there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph. 4:5).  These things in the Church come together as a powerful sign which our Lord prayed for in the Garden of Gethsemane (see Jn. 17:11).  This is known as symballein.   Sadly, people try to “tear apart” these aspects of unity which bring peace.  The word in Greek to “tear apart” is diaballein which is where we get the word diabolical.   It is the diabolical that tries to tear apart things that should be together.   We must keep our eyes on the true adversary who is Satan and not make various brothers or sisters in the Church the enemy.   It is not the people of Extraordinary vs Ordinary Rites of the Church.  Nor is it Traditional vs Charismatic or Eastern vs Western Rites.  There must be a visible union between these two groups as they should beat with the same love of God just as Elizabeth and Zechariah did in our Gospel reading (see Lk. 1:53-66).  Even though Zechariah was struck mute, he is still united to his wife.   He even corrected those who were not in line with the truth by writing on a tablet, “No. He will be called John.”  In being called “John”, Scripture speaks to us as well since John means “God is gracious” and God graciously gives us the gift of peace by connecting love and peace with charitable correction to help people reside in the truth.   He is also gracious by commanding us to acknowledge the true enemy who is Satan and not make enemies out of different groups of people in the Church as we are called to have “one Lord, faith, and baptism.”

We are also called to be messengers of the image of God.   This brings us to Malachi 3:3 which speaks of the refiner’s fire of the First Reading.   Here is a beautiful story about some women who went to find out more detail about this verse:

This woman called up a silver smith and made an appointment to watch him work. She didn’t mention anything about the rea son for her interest in silver beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needs to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were the hottest to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot and then she thought again about the verse, that he sits as a refiner and purifier of silver. 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 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 even 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.” (Gerard-Marie Anthony, The Four Keys to Sanctity, pp. 30-31).

To be a messenger of the image of God, we must be put into the refiner’s fire.  God does this, not to destroy us, but as a way of perfection.   This perfection, to live in the image of Jesus Christ is the secret of the cross—it is not a burden, but the key to eternal happiness:

• The heavier your cross is, the more you have to depend on God to carry it.

• The more you depend on God, the more you love Him.

• The more you love Him, the more like Him you become.

 • The more like Him you become, the more perfect you become until you reach the degree of perfection God calls you to, and then a saint you will be (Four Keys to Sanctity, p. 29).

In conclusion, let us remember this Advent and Jubilee Year to be messengers.   Let us be messengers of hope saying what is necessary to build up people in truth and goodness, even if it involves correction.   Let us aim to be messengers of peace remembering the union that Christ calls us which is to be one as a sign of the unity of Jesus Christ and the Church, but moreover the unity with God the Father.   This means fighting against the true adversary who is Satan, not various groups of people in the Church.  Finally, let us be messengers of the image of God, the image we were originally created and which we are meant to return.  In this, I pray for abundant blessings through these meditations to climb the mountain, love Mary, get comfortable with mystery, and be messengers of Christ and the Church’s Jubilee.  

Pick up a copy of Deacon Anthony’s book, Peaceful Hearts, Zealous Hearts published by Sophia Press for this Advent and Christmas.