On Wednesday, March 24, Rev. Br. Hyacinth Marie Cordell, O.P. preached a homily on the fire of God, which he noted doesn't burn but rather perfects man.  Here is the full text of his reflection:

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego reject idolatry. They are willing to die for the covenant. So, King Nebuchadnezzar has them cast into the fire. But, we read, "the fire did not touch them at all, or hurt or trouble them" (LXX Dan. 3:28). Rather, the three young men walk about in the midst of the fire, praising God. How mysterious! A fire that doesn't harm them!

In the age of the Church, we later hear of this same phenomenon. In the martyrdom of St. Polycarp, we read that, after St. Polycarp finished praying, a fire was kindled to consume him, but it failed to harm him. Instead, it encircled his body in the form of a sail, so that his executioners had to find another way to kill him (Cf. Epistle Concerning the Martyrdom of Polycarp, chapter 15).

Likewise, when our Holy Father Dominic was in Fanjeaux for a debate with the Albigensians, the judges decided to throw the written defenses of both the Albigensians and of Dominic into the fire as a test. Blessed Jordan tells us that the heretical book was consumed immediately, while that of Dominic leapt unharmed from the fire three times (Cf. Blessed Jordan of Saxony, Libellus, #24-5).

In these three instances, we see the power of God at work, protecting His servants and their truth from the harm of fire. And yet, we can also find a deeper meaning in this phenomenon, as did the Fathers of the Church.

If we return to Scripture, there is yet another, revealing, incident where a fire fails to harm. In the early part of Exodus, when Moses is fleeing Pharaoh, he comes to Horeb, the mountain of God (Ex 3:1). His eyes are drawn to "a great sight" (3:3). We read that "he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed" (3:2). Moses encounters God in the fire of a burning bush. Through this fire, God reveals His Name-His very identity-to Moses (3:14).

It is especially in passages such as this one that fire appears as a symbol of God Himself. Thus also, when Moses later ascends Mount Sinai in the sight of the Israelites, we read that "the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain" (Ex 24:17). The book of Hebrews, echoing Deuteronomy, is yet more direct, exclaiming, "for our God is a consuming fire!" (Heb 12:29; Dt 4:24; 9:3).

Indeed, God is fire, eternally burning, eternally dynamic, eternally intense. This fire is demanding. In the Old Testament, it occasionally breaks out from heaven against profanation and wickedness (Cf. Gen 19:24-8; Ex 9:23-4; Lev 10:2; Num 11:1-3; 16:35; 26:10; 2 Kgs 1:9-12). It is also jealous. It strives for the allegiance of our hearts and won't tolerate idolatry (Cf. Ex 32:9; 1 Kgs 18:38). It is also infinitely intense love. It was to impart this fire to us that the Son of God came: "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!" (Lk 12:49). It is this fire that the disciples felt in their hearts after the Resurrection: "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened the Scriptures to us?" (Lk 24:32). It is likewise into the Holy Spirit and fire that the disciples are baptized (Mk 3:11; Lk 3:16), and it is in the form of tongues of fire that the Holy Spirit descends upon them at Pentecost (Acts 2:3).

In all this, we see that Jesus fully reveals the fire of God to us. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus also draws us into the fire that is the Triune God. In Lent and Holy Week, we are called to enter more deeply into this purifying fire. There's no reason to be afraid, though. In this fire, we can't be harmed, only purified. It's not a destroying fire, but a perfecting fire. Yes, this fire burns away all alloy, but only in order to make us into pure gold. It is for this reason that St. Peter exhorts his hearers to rejoice in their trials, so that their faith "more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Pt 1:6-7). And so, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we are called into this fire, to be purified for perfect praise. Paul also speaks of a fire that will test every man's work on the last day. "If any man's work is burned up," he says, "he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire" (1 Cor 3:15). Suffer loss? Yes. Harmed? No. Perfected!

Fire transforms everything into itself. So too, God divinizes those who come into contact with His burning love. It is with good reason, then, that St. Ephraim says that in Communion we eat fire (St. Ephraim, Hymn of Faith, #10)... a fire that divinizes us! Today, as every day, we are beckoned to come forward to receive the fire of God, as a kind of burning coal from the altar which will purge our lips (Is 6:6-7). God wants to transform us into men and women on fire with love for Him... like the three young men in the fire, like St. Polycarp, and like our Holy Father Dominic... and all the saints.

Today, then, as we prepare to approach the altar... and as we ready ourselves for the Easter fire... it is only fitting that we pray: Come, Holy Spirit, enkindle in us the fire of your divine love!