Day 1
Purifying Gold takes time. We have to get the furnace really, really hot. Once this happens, we take the raw, unrefined gold and put it into appropriate container like a cauldron. Acid can be added and there are many more steps. But the gist of the matter is that the gold is heated to purify it.
We are like unrefined, raw gold. We need purification, that is, we are called to be holy (purified). “God wants you to be holy like him in this life, and glorious like him in the next. It is certain that growth in holiness is your vocation” (Preparation for Total Consecration, 22). Yes, we are called to holiness. Is it an easy task? No, it is not, like purifying gold, it can be hard. Still, I have heard it said, “That if something is worth doing, it is worth doing it well.” Well, that is what our lives are meant to be, we are called to be like God. And to be like God, we are to be holy because He is HOLY.
With God holiness is feasible. “What a marvelous transformation is possible! Dust into light, uncleanness into purity, sinfulness into holiness, creature into Creator, man into God” (Preparation for Total Consecration, 22)! This is possible because God makes it possible. He bestows His grace upon us to help us to be holy. We are not alone in this endeavor.
So we begin these twelve days of dying to the world to become who we were meant to be.