St. Elijah (Elias) the Prophet, Patron and Spiritual Father of the Carmelite Order.
Feast day July 20
“These are the days of Elijah declaring the word of the Lord.”
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse."— Malachi 4:5-6
Prophet Elijah is to be found in the part of Scripture starting from his sudden appearance in 1 Kings 17:1 and ending with his being taken up to heaven in the fiery chariot in 2 Kings 2:13.
For the Carmelites, they see themselves as sons and daughters of the prophet, Elijah. According to the dessert fathers, they saw John the Baptist and Elijah as models of hermits and monks. The Fathers of the Church saw religious life as a response to a Gospel call. Since they reasoned that the New Testament is foreshadowed in Old Testament, therefore, there should be types of monastic life in the Old Testament. Thus, the Fathers saw Elijah as such type. Origen cites Elijah as a proof of the efficacy of prayer, while Athanasius, in his life of Anthony, recalls the saying of the Father of religious life that all who make profession of the solitary life must take the great Elijah as their model and see in his life what their lives must be. (Springs of Carmel, Chap2)
ELIJAH IN THE BIBLE
A prophet named Elijah, from Tishbe in Gilead. 1 Kings 17:1
Elijah and the Drought 1 Kings 17
Vivit Dominus “The living God in whose presence I stand” (1 Kgs 17:1)
A prophet named Elijah, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to King Ahab,
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"I have commanded the ravens
to bring you food" |
“As the Lord liveth, the God of Israel, in whose sight I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to the words of my mouth.”
Then the Lord said to Elijah, “Leave this place and go east and hide yourself near Cherith brook, east of Jordan. The brook will supply you with water to drink, and I have commanded ravens to bring you food there. 1 Kings 17:2-4
Elijah obeyed the Lord’s command, and went and stayed by the Cherith brook. 1 Kings 17:6
5 Elijah obeyed the Lord’s command, and went and stayed by Cherith Brook. 6 He drank water from the brook, and ravens brought him bread and meat every morning and evening. 7 After a while the brook dried up because of the lack of rain
Elijah and the Widow in Zarephath
Then the Lord said to Elijah, “Now go to the town of Zarephath, near Sidon, and stay there. I have commanded a widow who lives there to feed you.” 8-9
So Elijah went to Zarephath, and as he came to the town gate, he saw a widow gathering firewood. “Please bring me a drink of water,”…”And please bring me some bread too.” 10-11. 12 She answered, “By the living Lord your God I swear that I don’t have any bread. All I have is a handful of flour in a bowl and a bit of olive oil in a jar…”
13 “Don’t worry.” “Go and prepare your meal. But first make a small loaf from what you have and bring it to me…” 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: “The bowl will not run out of flour or the jar run out of oil before the day that I, the Lord send rain.”
15 The widow went and did as Elijah had told her, and all of them had enough food for many days. 16 As the Lord had promised through Elijah, the bowl did not run out of oil.
17 Some time later the widow’s son got sick… and finally died. 18 She said to Elijah, “Man of God, why did you do this to me? Did you come here to remind me of my sins and so cause my son’s death?”
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| "Look , your son is alive!" |
19 “Give the boy to me”
20 The he prayed aloud,
“O Lord my God, why have you done such terrible thing to this widow? She has been kind enough to take care of me, and now you kill her son!”
21 Elijah stretched himself out on the boy three times and prayed, “O Lord my God, restore this child to Life!”
22 The Lord answered Elijah’s prayer; the child started breathing again and revived.
23 Look, you son is alive!”
24 She answered, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the Lord really speaks through you!”
Elijah and the Prophets of Baal Chap 18
1 The Lord said to Elijah, “Go and present yourself to King Ahab, and I will send rain.”
7 As Obadiah was on his way, he suddenly met Elijah. He recognized him, bowed low before him, and asked, “Is it really you sir?”
8 “Yes, I’m Elijah,” “Go and tell your master the king that I am here.”
9 Obadiah answered, “What have I done that you want to put to put me in danger of being killed by King Ahab?” 10 By the living Lord, your God, I swear that the king has made a search for you in every country in the world. 11 And now you want me to go and tell him that you are here?” 13 Haven’t you heard that when Jezebel was killing prophets of the Lord I hid a hundred of them in caves and supplied them with food and water?
15 Elijah answered, “By the living Lord Almighty, whom I serve, I Promise that I will present myself to the king today.”
16 So Obadiah went to King Ahab and told him, he set off to meet Elijah.
17 “So there you are- the worst troublemaker in Israel!” He said.18” I am not the troublemaker,” “You are- you and your father. You are disobeying the Lord’s commands and worshiping the idols of Baal.
19 Now order all the people of Israel to meet me at Mount Carmel
The Lighting of the Fire
Elijah, the Prophet of Fire
21 Elijah went up to the people and said, “How much longer will it take you to make up your minds? If the Lord is God, worship him; but Baal is God, worship Him!”
22 “I am the only prophet of the Lord still left, but there are 450 prophets of Baal. 23 Bring two bulls; let the prophets of Baal take one, kill it, cut it into pieces, and put it on the wood – but don’t light the fire. I will do the same with the other bull. 24 Then let the prophets of Baal pray to their god, and I will pray to the Lord, and the god who answers by sending fire- he is God.”
26 They shouted “Answer us, Baal!” and they kept dancing around the altar they had built. But no answer came.
(I can't help but laugh at this part. Prophet Elijah has a sense of humor I guess :)27 At noon Elijah started making fun of them:
“Pray louder! He is god! Maybe he is day-dreaming or relieving himself, or perhaps he’s gone off on a trip! Or maybe he’s sleeping, and you’ve got to wake him up!”
28 So the prophets prayed louder and cut themselves with knives and daggers
36 At the hour of the afternoon sacrifice the prophet Elijah approached the altar and prayed,
“O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove now that you are the God of Israel and that I am your servant and have done all this at your command. 37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so that this people will know that you, the Lord, are God and that you are bringing them back to yourself.”
38 The Lord sent fire down, and it burned up the sacrifice, the wood, and the stones, scorched the earth and dried up the water in the trench.
39 When the people saw this, they threw themselves on the ground and exclaimed,
“The Lord is God; the Lord alone is God!”
The End of the Drought
41Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel, where he bowed down to the ground, with his head between his knees.
45In a little while the sky was covered with dark clouds, the wind began to blow, and a heavy rain began to fall.
46The power of the Lord came on Elijah
Elijah on Mt. Sinai Chap 19
“With Zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of Hosts”
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| "Wake up and eat!" |
1 King Ahab told his wife Jezebel everything that Elijah has done and how he had put all the prophets of Baal to death. 2 She sent a message to Elijah: “May the gods strike me dead if by this time tomorrow I don’t do the same thing to you that you did to the prophets.”
3 Elijah was afraid and fled his life
4 Elijah walked a whole day into the wilderness. He stopped sat down in the shade of a tree and wished he would die.
“It is too much, Lord. Take away my life; I might as well be dead!”
5 He lay down under the tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said, “Wake up and eat.” 6 He looked around and saw a loaf of bread and a jar of water near his head. He ate and drank, and lay down again
7 The Lord’s angel returned and woke him up a second time, saying,
“Get up and eat, or the trip will be too much for you.”
8 Elijah got up, ate and drank, gave him enough strength to walk forty days to Sinai. 9 There he went into a cave to spend the night
Suddenly the Lord spoke to him,
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Carmelite Logo
Zelo zelatus sum
pro Domino Deo exercituum. |
“Elijah, what are you doing here?”
10 He answered, “Lord God Almighty, I have always served you—you alone”
“With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant: they have thrown down thy altars, they have slain thy prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it away.”
11 “Go stand before me on top of the mountain,” the Lord said
Then the Lord passed by and sent a furious wind that split the hills and shattered the rocks
-but the Lord was not in the wind.
The wind stopped blowing, and then there was an earthquake
-but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
12 After the earthquake there was a fire
-but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire there was the soft whisper of a voice
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“Elijah, what are you doing here?” |
13When Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of a cave. A voice said to him,
“Elijah, what are you doing here?”
14He answered,
“Lord God Almighty, I have always served you- you alone. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed all your prophets. I am the only one left- and they are trying to kill me.”
15 And the Lord said to him: Go and return on thy way, through the dessert
Zelo zealatus sum (1 Kgs 19:16)
The scriptural stories of Elijah show a prophet who was actively involved in the problems of his times as the mouthpiece of Yahweh, upholding the true religion of Israel. The main reason for the Elijah cycle being included in the Deuteronomic history was that Elijah was the instrument used by God to preserve the true religion in Israel- a truly critical moment in the history of God’s people. (Springs of Carmel, Chap2. Elijah in the Bible)
Elijah was a man of vision. He used his experience of God in silence and solitude to clothe the word of God in a garb suitable for his times.
Elijah’s Creativity
The image of their God Yahweh was in serious need of “modernization.” If he was the true God of every situation in which Israel might find herself, it was Elijah who succeeded in transforming the image of Yahweh who commanded the rain, who sent fire from heaven, it was Yahweh who was the one and only God of Israel and not Baal. (The prophetic model of Religious Life: The Role of the Prophet Elijah in Carmelite Spirituality)
With Elijah there was no conflict between prayer and activity. So Carmelites, like Elijah, can be both faithful to the traditions of the Order, and yet creative in applying this tradition to modern problems. (Springs of Carmel, Chap 2)
When we are creative, we are open to growth. Therefore, by following the prophet Elijah, we are also called to be prophets in the Church.
To be a prophet in this modern day world, how can you be creative in proclaiming God’s word? J
“These are the days of Elijah declaring the word of the Lord.”
Let all Christ's Church assemble here
And, gathered in His holy Name,
Keep solemn, joyful festival
To sing of great Elijah's fame.
Of all the prophets who foretold
God's hidden plan of saving grace,
He is the chief: to him we give,
The Tishbite, now the choicest place.
He called the folk of Israel
Back to their covenant with God;
Through kingly wrath and violence
God's narrow way of truth he trod.
When earthly tasks for him were done,
You called him in a special way:
A fiery chariot came for him,
Foretelling Christ's ascension day.
For all the graces You have giv'n
Through what Elijah did for You,
Your Church on earth gives endless praise,
O Father, Son, and Spirit true.
L.M. (88.88)
