Štědrý den

Je totiž jako oheň čistící a jako mýdlo plnící; ... Hle, pošlu vám proroka Eliáše, než přijde veliký a hrozný den Hospodinův. On obrátí srdce rodičů k jejich dětem a srdce dětí k jejich rodičům.
-Malachiáš 3,2; 4,5-6, NRSV 

Otec Richard píše o prorocké cestě, která je ukázána v Písmu: 

Tato slova proroka Malachiáše popisují toho, kdo bude vhodným předchůdcem každého příštího Mesiáše. Křesťané tuto pasáž obvykle vztahují na Jana Křtitele, jak to učinil již sám Ježíš a autoři evangelií. Tento text má však ještě větší význam. Na několika málo verších se mu podařilo zmapovat posloupnost prorockého Božího slova. Když se Písmo používá ve zralém věku, postupuje v tomto pořadí: 

1. Konfrontují nás s větším obrazem, než na jaký jsme zvyklí: "Boží vláda", která má potenciál "dekonstruovat" naše falešné názory na svět.  

Christmas Eve

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; … Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents.
—Malachi 3:2, 4:5–6, NRSV 

Father Richard writes of the prophetic path shown in the Scriptures:  

These words from the prophet Malachi describe the one who will be the fitting precursor for any coming Messiah. Christians have usually applied this passage to John the Baptist, as Jesus himself and the gospel writers already have done. But this text has even more significance. In very few verses, it succeeds in charting the sequencing of the prophetic Word of God. When the Scriptures are used maturely, they proceed in this order: 

1. They confront us with a bigger picture than we are used to: “God’s reign” that has the potential to “deconstruct” our false world views.  

2. They then have the power to convert us to an alternative worldview by proclamation, grace, and the sheer attraction of the good, the true, and the beautiful (not by lower-level motivations of shame, guilt, or fear).  

3. They then console us and bring deep healing as they “reconstruct” us in a new place with a new mind and heart.  

The prophet Malachi does this. He describes the work of the God Messenger as both “great and terrible,” both wonderful and threatening at the same time. It is not that the Word of God is threatening us with fire and brimstone. Rather, the Scripture is saying that goodness is its own reward and evil is its own punishment. If we do the truth and live connected in the world as it really is, we will be blessed and grace can flow. The consolation will follow from the confrontation with the Big Picture. If we create a false world of separateness and egocentricity, it will not work and we will suffer the consequences even now. In short, we are not punished for our sins, but by our sins! [1]

The Eternal Word of God that we read about in the prologue to John’s Gospel “leapt down,” as it says in the Book of Wisdom (18:14–15). It took its abiding place on Earth in order to heal every bit of separation and splitness that we experience. That splitness and separation is the sadness of the human race. When we feel separate, when we feel disconnected, when we feel split from our self, from our family, from reality, from the Earth, from God, we become angry and depressed people. Deep down, we know we weren’t created for separateness; we were created for the Big Picture and for union.

God sent Jesus into the world as the One who would personify that union—who would put human and divine, matter and spirit together. That’s what we spend our whole life trying to believe: that this ordinary earthly sojourn means something. [2]