December 24, 2013 – 2 Chronicles 30

When I read about the people that were coming to the celebration, but not cleansed, I was thinking about going Mass, more specifically the Eucharist. There people at different levels of belief and different level of being “cleansed”. There are those that just left Reconciliation and are as cleansed as they could be. Next are those that may not have mortal sin, but still have venial sins that have not been cleansed. There are those that go, but don’t believe in the Eucharist. Then, there are those that don’t go.

Here, we have those that came cleansed, and those that got invited and did not come. But the ones that really made me think of this were those described in this line. “The greater part of the people, in fact, chiefly from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves. Nevertheless they ate the Passover, contrary to the prescription; because Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good LORD grant pardon”. I think this really describes those that come, not with mortal sin, but still have venial sins. Receiving the Eucharist goes erase your venial sins. That is like coming to the celebration and participating even though you had not cleansed yourself and receiving all the benefits of God’s grace. It also shows the compassion for Hezekiah that knew how important this was to reestablish the Temple and this sacrifice to allow anyone that made the effort to get there participate.