Prophet Elijah
His name, "Yahweh is my God," may be a title applied to him because of his challenge to Baal worship.
The Providence of God worked through all the life of the Prophet Elijah. He was the Prophet during the time when Israel is adulterous in their worship to God. It is during those times that because of a corrupt leader King Ahab who is influenced by a pagan wife Jezebel that Israel had worshiped Baal alongside with their worship to God. Hence Israel was punished with a drought.
Though the whole country suffers famine Elijah was supplied by God with his daily necessities through the ravens that brought him his daily ration of bread in the morning and meat in the evening. And his thirst is satiated by the streams of Cherith. (Kings 17: 2-6)
There where miracles brought by this prophet which turned the hearts of the people to worship God and reject their idolatrous worship of Baal.
The first is the Miracle to the Widow and his son in Sidon, where through their charity to the prophet, God reward them with Oil and Flour which will never run out till until the drought is finished. The Second was the dead child been brought to life (Kings 17:22) The third was Sacrifice consumed by fire 1 Kings 18:38, the fourth miracle was the Captains and men slain by fire 2 Kings 1:10. And after the many days of drought Rain was brought 1 Kings 18:41. And finally before his assumption in to heaven, by his cloak the Water of Jordan divided 2 Kings 2:8.
Elijah the Prophet was taken up by a Chariot of Fire into the heaven.
The Prophet Elijah appeared with Moses together with our Lord Jesus Christ in the Mountain of Transfiguration. This apparition signifies the threefold mission of every Christian, The Priestly, Mission embodied by Christ, The Mission of the King as embodied by Moses, and the Prophetic Mission embodied by Elijah.
Elijah as the Carmelite Patriarch
(A Statue of Elijah in the Church of Mount Carmel, Jerusalem)
When on the holy day of Pentecost the Apostles, through heavenly inspiration, spake in foreign tongues, and worked many wonders by the invocation of the most sacred Name of Jesus ; it is said that many men, who were walking in the footsteps of the holy prophets Elias and Eliseus, and had been prepared for the coming of Christ by the heralding of John the Baptist, saw and were assured of the truth. They at once embraced the faith of the Gospel, and began to venerate the most blessed Virgin (whose conversation and familiar intercourse they were happily able to enjoy) with a certain peculiar affection, so that they, before all others, built a chapel to that purest of Virgins on that very spot of Mount Carmel where Elias of old had seen a cloud arising, a remarkable symbol of the Virgin. (From the Roman Breviary)
The early Christians prays to their elder brethren in heaven. As they are the young believers, the elder Saints are the one to whom the Eternal Word has passed through their hearts and by their lips. And it is so that the devotion to Prophet Elijah goes back to the Ancient times of Christianity. However our Eastern Brothers and Sisters in the Greek, Byzantine Church still continuous to call on the Prophet Elijah. And it is also an unceasing devotion of our Carmelite Brothers and Sisters.
In this very difficult times, let us turn back to the Lord, whom the secular world has abandoned. Our present age is similar to that of the Holy Prophet Elijah. As we are governed by corrupt politicians, and a corrupt government who worships the baal in the form of worldliness. We are not aware that we are already forgetting the path of a true Christian. “The Path of Christ”. The path of Christ is a way of life of entrusting our cares to the Most Powerful Eternal Father who never abandon us, and who loves us. We are already deluded that the Divine Providence is a Myth and we and the work of our hands are only the reliable agents to brought about our daily necessities. We make a god of ourselves, in divorcing our dependence on God who can give and grant all that we need. We all know that God has provided unceasingly since time immemorial, through the words of the Scriptures and through the History of Man his intervention is unceasing.
Man also forgets that his life is only a pilgrimage to eternity and that he in this life is to procure heavenly treasures which not even a moth or worm can destroy, nor can thieves steal. Man is deluded by his ambition for riches and forgets his eternity. “Away with the eternity he says to himself, what matters is my earthly life.” More so man in this meager desires in life is also given to the worship of sexual pleasure, trudging his baptismal grace and Christian dignity he makes way for the dominion of the kingdom of devil and not of God. Hence the result of this is immorality of the nation, and the degeneration of life.
Let us turn to Prophet Elijah whose spirit and body dwells in heaven. Let us implore him to return spiritually and visit us in this pagan age. Let us ask him to teach us never to despair but like the widow in Sidon to carry out the Way of Christ, the Way of Charity.
Our Blessed Mother in her love for mankind has also given a powerful means to be defended by heaven and to be protected by her maternal protection. The Scapular, which if we will reflect deeply patterns to the cloak of Elijah. It is one of the legend that it is the Blessed Virgin who ministered and evangelized the holy hermits who are followers by the Prophet, hence the institution of the Carmelite was established. May this mantle of Scapular help us to cross the rivers of tribulation. May it give us the identity of becoming modern prophet Elijah. True Christians who believes in God’s power of Divine Providence, believer that this falling nation can be restored back to life, propagator of faith, and an advocate as well as a witness of living a life of grace. May our actions loudly cry to every people that they are living an idolatrous life of worldliness and impurity. So that in the end, God’s kingdom shall reign over our life and towards the whole world.
By: Bro. Jose Gerard La Rosa
An angel in the flesh and the cornerstone of the prophets, the second forerunner of the coming of Christ, Glorious Patriarch Elijah sent grace from on high to Elisha to dispel disease and to cleanse lepers. Therefore, he pours for the healings on those who honour him.
Prophet Elijah of great renown, seer of the mighty works of God, by your comman you held back the rain! Pray for us to the only Lover of mankind! (In silencse say your intentions)
1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, 1 Gloria
Holy Glorious Prophet Elijah .......... Pray for us
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