“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones.” (Zechariah 13:7)
On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more. I will remove both the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land. On that day every prophet will be ashamed of their prophetic vision. Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me! declares the LORD Almighty. Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones. In the whole land, a third will be struck down and perish; yet a third will be left in it. This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold.
Jesus quotes Zechariah 13:7 at the Last Supper, applying it to his own arrest and the scattering of the disciples (Matthew 26:31). The Catechism identifies the striking of the shepherd as the figure of the Passion (CCC 557).
Brothers and sisters, I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. The third that passes through the fire is not destroyed but refined. The testing is not the end; it is the process. The scattered sheep are not abandoned; they are being refined by the suffering the striking of the shepherd produced. You may be in the fire. You are being made silver.
Lord God, refine us like silver and test us like gold. Bring us through the fire and hear us when we call. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.