Turn the hearts

Not all of us have the greatest relationships with our parents. This can be the occasion of no little stress and turmoil during the holidays.

The last words of today’s first reading (Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24) seem to speak directly to such situations: words of warning, but also words of hope.

Lo, I will send you
Elijah, the prophet,
Before the day of the LORD comes,
the great and terrible day,
To turn the hearts of the fathers to their children,
and the hearts of the children to their fathers,
Lest I come and strike
the land with doom.

In these holy days and in the new year to come, may the grace of God, through prophetic words and actions, bring about the healing and courage (if not miracles) to make new and holy the relationships in our lives that may have been strained or even broken.

Come and save us, O Lord our God.