The Prophet Malachi gives us a very interesting and possibly perplexing image. On the one hand, he warns that the day of fire is coming when all the proud and evil doers will be burned to stubble. This image of a purging fire is one that we are all familiar with. However, at the same time, this very same fire are like the healing rays of the sun to those who fear the name of the Lord. How is it that the very same flames will destroy one while healing the another?
This dual and seemingly contradictory condition, I think, can make it easier for us to think of God’s judgment and these purging flames as something magical, if not random. It can make it easier for people to imagine that the Bible says that whether someone is burned in the flames or purified is more arbitrary. Of course, this is not at all what the Prophet Micah is saying. Nor is he describing God’s judgment, but His very presence.
When God comes to us, whether it is at the end of time, or even in the present day as we come into His presence as we approach the altar, time spent in prayer, or in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, His presence comes to us like a blazing fire. Sacred Scripture also gives us the image of silver being tried in the furnace. If you imagine what happens to silver, or any metal, as it is cast into the furnace, all of the impurities are burned. The metal itself glows red hot and is strengthened by the heat, while flecks of flame flare up and black soot falls to the side. This is what typically happens, the more pure the silver, or steel is, the less burns away. But what if there are more impurities than metal? Then everything is burned and lost. There’s not enough silver present to keep it held together.
St. John of the Cross also describes this effect of the presence of God on the soul. It is not the soul that burns, the soul is healed. Rather, the impurities, our sinfulness, our attachments to worldly things, and the effects of our sins, these are the things that burn. If He comes to us in His full presence when there remain too many impurities, then our soul could not survive. This is why Moses knew that he could not survive looking at His face. It is a merciful act that our Lord approaches each of us slowly, and in ways that will heal and not destroy.
What the prophet describes and is at stake is this: what is sinful and opposed to God cannot survive in His presence; while what is Good and from Him, is healed and strengthened by His presence. It is a very natural act and a purifying act (He makes us more like Him, because we were created in His likeness). When we feel the stings of purification, we should give thanks for the work He is accomplishing for us.
