God’s eyes are ALWAYS on us…

God’s eyes are ALWAYS on us…
by Bp. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D.

Once in one of the weekly panimbahon or faith-sharing of a group of lay faithful who are active members of a neighbourhood community or what we now commonly call the basic ecclesial community (BEC), their attention was drawn to chapter three, verse three of the book of Malachi, which says: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” There was a very animated exchange on what could this possibly mean and how could this be applied in their daily life. They wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next panimbahon. That week this woman called up a silver smith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest in silver beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silver smith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot - then she thought again about the verse, that he sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.

She asked the silver smith 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 that 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 silver smith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”

He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy - It’s fully refined when I can see my image in it.”

As we make our final preparations for cur annual discipline of Lent, it is good to contemplate God like the silversmith, who sits “as a refiner and purifier of silver.” Let us allow ourselves to be affected by this beautiful image of God in the story. Let the forty days of Lent enable us to participate in God’s unique way of “refining” us until He can see His image clearly reflected in us. We can calmly go about our daily task of building God’s reign among us, facing and accepting whatever it costs us to be faithful to it knowing that God never takes His eyes off us when we are in the fire!