Malachi, or What's in a Name?

          A palpable frenzy, a tangible urgency permeates the Readings for December 23.  It’s been there all Advent: we started with the Collect for the First Sunday of Advent speaking of our “running out to meet your Christ” while last Sunday’s Postcommunion urged us to “press forward all the more eagerly” towards Christ’s coming.  But, like the secular calendar reminding us “TWO shopping days till Christmas,” the unmistakable exigency of the moment is tangible.

          In the First Reading, Malachi pulls no punches: “Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me; And suddenly there will come to the temple the LORD whom you seek, And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.”

          We are at the “suddenly” moment of Advent.  In 48 hours, we will be in the middle of Christmas.

          Malachi has always had a special appeal for me because “Malachi” is not a proper name.  “Malachi” literally means “my messenger.”  Constant usage of the Hebrew common noun has turned it into a “name.”

          Well, “my messenger” is true of every prophet.  Every prophet spoke not his own word but the Lord’s.  His authority came precisely from speaking God’s Word.  In that sense, every prophet is (a) Malachi.

          But the prophet to whom we have attributed that name has certain characteristics, one of which is the urgency of preparation for the Lord’s “sudden” coming.  Malachi’s prophecy foretells John the Baptist (“my messenger,” the ultimate Malachi) and Jesus (“the Lord whom you seek”).  St. Mark, in his Gospel (1:2) explicitly cites this text of Malachi when he introduces John the Baptist. 

           The Church has also seen in the Book of Malachi a foretelling of the Eucharist: in contrast to the Temple offerings, a pure offering will be made to the Lord’s Name “from the rising of the sun to its setting” (Mal 1:11).  Those very words find echoes in the Third Eucharistic Prayer and remember, somewhere in the world Mass is being offered.

          Malachi demands moral reform: his short book (three chapters) is permeated by that theme.  That reform is the message of “my messenger,” as it was the message of John the Baptist, who called on men to “repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 3:2). 

          It’s time to get to it!

          The Responsorial Psalm continues the same theme: “lift your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.”  Wake up!  St. Paul had already stressed this in First Sunday of Advent’s Second Reading from Romans: “it is the hour now for you to wake from sleep; for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is far spent; the day is at hand.”  Like it or not, the snooze button is up and there’s no “five more minutes!”  And how do we wake up, according to Paul?  By “casting off the works of darkness and putting on the armor of light.”  Time to get spiritually dressed!

          Finally, the Gospel underscores the unexpected nature of Christ’s Coming, particularly His Coming on the last day.  “You do not know the day your Lord will come,” either in your own death or in the end of history. Advent has been about preparation.  If you’re not, there’s still time—not a lot, but the vineyard owner is still hiring workers at 5 p.m. (Mt 20:1-16).