He shall purify the sons of Levi

Wisdom, Adonai, Root of Jesse, Key of David, and all the Old Testament titles of Our Lord are those which even now we use to beg him for the realization of what the Lord God promised long ago “at sundry times and in divers manners” (Hebrews 1:1). The Church’s annual re-presentation of biblical prophecies regarding the coming of the Messiah begins to reach its final crescendo in its penultimate day of Advent, which is December 23rd. I have long found the prophecy of this day in particular powerful and illuminating. To the Jew in the Old Testament just before the birth of Christ, the prophecies and types of that time were as so many loose threads, if not lost threads. The Jews, even after the glory of the Maccabees, were once again under the heel of their enemies. There had not been a great prophet in Israel for centuries. The Davidic Line of Kings seemed to be spent. What then was to be said of the most emphatic promises made by the Prophets and Patriarchs? Only two great consolations of the Jewish people remained: the Temple and the Law. But even these, they knew from history, existed only at the price of the blood and strife of their forefathers. They were no match for Rome or for Roman Legions. They were even less a match for the human tendency to sin and to conform to the customs of the pagan peoples which surrounded them. It is easy to imagine a Jew of those days being as much a man or woman of anxiety as anything else, much like many of us today. It should be remarkable to us how strongly they held to the prophetic promises, even in the midst of so much that was wrong, lost, or in ruin.

Yet, the Prince of Apostles reminds us that “we have the more firm prophetical word”, which proceeds from the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. “…whereunto you do well to attend, as to a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19-20). In other words, while we have the benefit of living in the light of much fulfilled prophecy, more is to come, to which we must hold firmly, if we are not to be lost. If Isaiah could say of those who lived before the first coming of the Lord, “behold darkness shall cover the earth, and a mist the people” (Isaiah 60:2), can we imagine that it will be easier with us, especially when St. Paul has promised the arrival one day of the “mystery of iniquity, which already is at work” (2 Thessalonians 2:7)?

Before the first coming of Our Lord, it was prophesied that he would send forth the spirit and power of Elijah into the world, to “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:6). To recreate this sort of expectation, the Advent readings made copious use of the words of St. John the Baptist, who came in the Spirit and Power of Elijah. Yet if we look more closely, it seems at the same time, in the background, others were being gathered around the Temple of the Lord, whom the Scriptures praise for their piety and righteousness. Of these we need only mention Zechariah, Simeon, and Anna, just to begin. Surely there were more. Yet there is one thing all these men and women have in common in the New Testament narratives: the gift called hierognosis. This is more than just the recognition of sacred objects, but the recognition of sacred persons as well. Zechariah was struck dumb until he consented to pronounce the name of the Great Prophet. When he, in obedience, proclaimed the name of Christ’s great forerunner, his tongue was loosed to give praise. Simeon, who lived his life in hope, instantly recognized the object of his prayer, and was blessed to hold Hope Incarnate in his very arms; and Anna, who grew old in the praises of The Lord, added to Simeon’s Canticle her own. Finally, St. John the Baptist himself, to whom we usually ascribe the prophetic ministry, we often forget was a Priest of Priests: he was the Son of his Father Zechariah, who was an Old Testament Priest. One of the great tasks of the Levitical Priesthood was to inspect the suitability of animals for sacrifice. Therefore, his recognition of Christ as the Lamb of God was not merely a prophetic insight. St. John saw him with Priestly eyes. The Priest of the Old Covenant saw the Victim of the next.

These men, all Priests, and the woman Anna, who spent her days in prayer in union with the old sacrifices, I believe were only a fraction of the men and women consecrated by grace to prepare for the imminent coming of the Lord in his Holy Incarnation. If the ancient legend is true, even Mary herself was one of the women consecrated for prayer at the temple. In other words, in preparation for the revelation of the light of the Gentiles, God gathered together his faithful Priests, and their spiritual and material collaborators. What then, should we make of the prophecy of Malachi in our regard, especially when we know that several of the prophecies of the Old Testament apply to Christ in all his comings?

St. Peter reminds us that “the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God” (1 Peter 4:17), or in other words, that God’s chastisement always falls heaviest upon his elect, because God desires preeminently their sanctification, as he knows that is the path to their beatitude. The Church of the past few years, like in many other times in our long history, has greatly borne the chastisement of the Lord. This past century or so has seen more martyrs than all the others combined, and it does not seem like the blood-soaked tide will recede in the near future. Our Churches are destroyed as our brothers and sisters, the Church’s living stones, are killed and dispersed throughout the world. Should it surprise us that St. John saw the fifth seal of martyrdom broken before the sixth, the great manifestation of the wrath and judgment of God? (Revelation 6)

So I return to the prophecy of Malachi, proclaimed afresh on December 23rd for all the Latin Church to hear: “Yes, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? 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.” (Malachi 3:1-4)

What I find most telling, however, is not what the Church proclaims from the Lectionary on December 23rd, but perhaps what, most tellingly, is omitted from the prophecy: “And I will come to you in judgment, and will be a speedy witness against sorcerers, and adulterers, and false swearers, and them that oppress the hireling in his wages; the widows, and the fatherless: and oppress the stranger, and have not feared me, says the LORD of hosts. For I am the Lord, and I change not: and you the sons of Jacob are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:5)

The prophet continues: “And you shall return, and shall see the difference between the just and the wicked: and between him that serves God, and him that serves him not.” (Malachi 3:18) In other words, the visitation that comes upon the Sons of Levi comes first upon those Sons that do not truly adore God in truth. As a result of their own sins and apostasy, the whole of the people of the Old Testament learned not to obey the Holy Covenant. If there is ever a scenario in the Old Testament which stirs God to anger, it is that. Yet joined always with these fearful prophecies is the promise that God will triumph, purifying the Sons of Levi, that they may offer that pure sacrifice.

Who are the Sons of Levi today? Of course, we Catholics recognize them to be the Priests of Jesus Christ, as may be found in the Gospels and in the Epistle to the Hebrews, as well as in the Sacred Liturgy. Even the Easter Vigil’s Exsultet comes with the exhortation by the Priest to the people: “Invoke with me, I ask you, the mercy of God Almighty, that he, who has been pleased to number me, though unworthy, among the Levites, may pour into me his light unshadowed…”

We, the Sons of Levi, should find great joy in these aforementioned prophecies, as did our predecessors. All the people should rejoice with us at the prophecies, and pray for their fulfillment. Christ comes in his ‘advents’ with a particular visitation for his Priests, over and above his visitation to his people, and this seems in the prophetic pattern to always come before an abundant outpouring of grace. First, we experienced the exposing of the true sins of the Priesthood, which served to purify us. Second, we are now experiencing above all our union with Christ’s saving passion, as we join him desolate and alone, falsely accused, despised and reviled, even abandoned by those who ought to love him. We have been offered many signs that perhaps the time for the glorification of the Priesthood is near. Yet as the theology of St. John teaches us, Christ said that the glorification of the Son of Man was in his being “lifted up”. That is, our glorification, at least in part, is found in our participation in his Cross.

Private Revelation has also not been lacking, even though I exercise extreme caution and skepticism with regard to such things. As skeptical as I can be, I believe the serious of locutions which make up the beautiful new book In Sinu Jesu are also reflective of this prophetic movement. Take for instance these words to the Benedictine Monk on Holy Thursday, 2008, right around the Year of the Priest proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI:

“I am very close to cleansing My priests of the impurities that defile them. Soon, very soon, I will pour out graces of spiritual healing upon all My priests. I will separate those who will accept the gift of My Divine friendship from those who will harden their hearts against Me. To the first I will give radiant holiness like that of John and of My apostles in the beginning. From the others I will take away even what they think they have. It must be so. I want the priests of My Church clean in heart and faithful in responding to the immense love with which I have loved each one of them and chosen each one for Myself and for the realization of the designs of My Heart.”

In Sinu Jesu, Entry of Holy Thursday, March 20, 2008.

The Sons of Levi gathered around the Temple of the Old Covenant with their fervent prayers raised that their Deliverer, long promised, should at last arrive. We may echo something of their great hope and determination in an age of infidelity, when all seems to be crumbling around us. The Devil in the past century has been as determined to destroy the image of Christ in the Priesthood as he has been to destroy the image of the Trinity in Holy Matrimony. In fact, these two attacks, like the prongs of a pitchfork, seem to me to be intimately connected. Yet we know because of the intensity of his rage that his ruin, not ours, is close at hand. Perhaps Our Lord is even now consecrating certain ones among his Priesthood with the same hierognosis as graced the Priests of the Old Covenant, the grace to recognize the Visitation of Our Lord to his Church, his people. Perhaps Our Lord even now is gathering the Sons of Levi around his Tabernacles, to prepare them for the day when he visits his Temples afresh in renewed power. We Priests can only make our heartfelt sighs, and pray and fast fervently for the hastening of that day, and enjoin all the people to do the same.

Surely purification, especially when we consider the prophetic words that the purification will be as silver and gold are purified, is meant to be painful, not pleasurable. There is also perhaps another subtle dig in this prophecy: that the Priesthood is like the gold and the silver hidden within, which must be polished and cleansed in order to shine. We could all use a thorough cleaning! What was the purpose of gold and silver in the Old Testament Priesthood? To ornament the Temple and to be objects on which the sacrifice may be offered, all for the adoration of God, and to implore forgiveness for their sins, and the sins of the people. Do we not have the same role today? But even more: we are conformed to the person of Christ, and so we have the glory of being Victims, not just the ones who offer the sacrifice. Our pains, struggles and sorrows are the kernels of frankincense offered on the burning coals of Priestly Love.

How fitting, granted what we have gleaned from these prophecies, that the Church’s Liturgy, with inspired zeal, proclaims in the Gospel of Christmas Eve the great Morning Canticle of the one who, after thousands of years of expectation, at long last saw the first sweet rays of dawn:

“You will go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. In the tender compassion of Our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:76-79)

A very blessed last few days of Advent to all the Church, and especially we Sons of Levi, who wait in hope.