The Saints of Old

A true son of the wilderness, he called home the cliffs above raging torrents, the caves of the mountains or the scanty shelter in the desert. His clothes were made of animal skin and he wore a leather girdle. His mantle rolled up and struck parted the water of the River Jordan, . He was swift on his feet and tongue. His words foretold and “burned like a torch” at a time that needed such a prophet. 

His name was Elijah. Also known as the Tishbite, in reference to his origin, Elijah and Moses appeared with Jesus during the Transfiguration, which was witnessed by three disciples. 

Seemingly out of nowhere, Elijah came and announced to King Ahab, the king of Israel in the first half of the ninth century BC, that his kingdom will soon be struck with a long period of drought. After delivering the message he disappeared just as suddenly into the wilderness to the east of the Jordan where ravens brought him meat and bread for food. 

With drought and famine gripping Israel, Elijah went to another town where a widow and her child shared their last meal with him. Touched by her charity, Elijah rewarded her with incredible amounts of food store, and later Elijah restored her child to life. 

Ahab blamed Elijah for his misfortune, calling him the Troubler of Israel. True to his reputation of not holding back, Elijah charged back that he, King Ahab and his house had forsaken the commandments of the Lord and worshiped Baal. Elijah challenged the king to summon the prophets of Baal to Mount Carmel, where a ruined altar for Yahweh stood, and hold a contest between God and Baal.  

In Mount Carmel Elijah pressed the multitude who gathered to witness the contest to choose between God and Baal. He then commanded the prophets of Baal to call on their god to answer with fire. The prophets of Baal built an altar for their wild rituals and prayers and had a victim sacrificed but their prayers were not answered. 

Elijah repaired the ruined altar for Yahweh, prepared his sacrifice and, as he was praying earnestly, “the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench."  Later, the crowd at Elijah’s command slew the prophets of Baal. 

Angered by the killing of the prophets of Baal, Jezabel the queen of Israel and wife of King Ahab (who turned Ahab away from Yahweh to worship Baal) swore to kill Elijah. Elijah escaped to the desert beyond Juda in Mount Horeb. Despondent, Elijah complained before the Lord, who then revealed His Glory to Elijah. Restored in his faith, Elijah went forth on three new missions: to anoint the King of Syria and Israel and to seek out Elisha as his successor. On his way to Damascus he meets Elisha at the plough, and throwing his mantle over him, makes him his faithful disciple and inseparable companion, to whom the completion of his task will be entrusted.  

Knowing the time was coming was coming for him to leave, Elijah asked Elisha what he could do for him. No slacker he, Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah's spirit. It was common practice at that time for the first-born son to inherit a double portion of his father's property. Elisha was asking to inherit from Elijah his spirit of prophecy in the degree befitting his principal disciple.  

Elijah vanished still more mysteriously than he had appeared. Like Enoch, he was "translated," so that he should not taste death. As he was conversing with his spiritual son Elisha on the hills of Moab, "a flaming chariot and flaming horses came between them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind" (2 Kings 2:11).  

When Elisha saw it happen he cried out, "My father! my father! Israel's chariots and drivers!" But when he could no longer see him, Elisha gripped his own garment and tore it in two. Then he picked up Elijah's mantle which had fallen from him, and went back and stood at the bank of the Jordan. Wielding the mantle of Elijah’s , he struck the water in his turn and said, "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" The water of the River Jordan parted and he crossed over.  

All the efforts to find him were made by the sons of the prophets who did not believe Elisha's story. But the memory of Elijah has forever remained living in the minds both of Jews and Christians.

This is the story Elijah. He is a saint from the Old Testament.

The Sunday Readings

From the Book of Micah: Mi 5:1-4a

Thus says the LORD:
You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah
too small to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel;
whose origin is from of old, from ancient times.

Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time
when she who is to give birth has borne,
and the rest of his kindred shall return
to the children of Israel.

He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock
by the strength of the LORD,
in the majestic name of the LORD, his God;
and they shall remain, for now his greatness
shall reach to the ends of the earth;
he shall be peace.

From the Book of Psalms: Ps 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19

R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
O shepherd of Israel, hearken,
from your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth.
Rouse your power,
and come to save us.

R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
Once again, O LORD of hosts,
look down from heaven, and see;
take care of this vine,
and protect what your right hand has planted
the son of man whom you yourself made strong.

R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
May your help be with the man of your right hand,
with the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
Then we will no more withdraw from you;
give us new life, and we will call upon your name.

R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

From the Letter to the Hebrews: Heb 10:5-10

Brothers and sisters:
When Christ came into the world, he said:
"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight.
Then I said, 'As is written of me in the scroll,
behold, I come to do your will, O God.'"

First he says, "Sacrifices and offerings,
holocausts and sin offerings,
you neither desired nor delighted in."
These are offered according to the law.
Then he says, "Behold, I come to do your will."
He takes away the first to establish the second.
By this "will," we have been consecrated
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

From the Gospel of Luke: Lk 1:39-45

Mary set out and traveled
to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,

"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting 
reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled."

Luke portrays Mary in the passage, "Blessed are you who believed," as a believer whose faith stands in contrast to the disbelief of Zechariah (Luke 1:20). Mary's role as believer in the infancy narrative should be seen in connection with the explicit mention of her presence among "those who believed" after the resurrection at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:14).

This passage should be very familiar to us, as it is the basis of the Marian devotional prayer, "Hail Mary."

From the Readers

Brought o us through Daisy G.

 A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.

"What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning.

"There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The pig sympathized, but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow and said "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.

The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

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