The Prophet Elijah
Our knowledge of Elijah comes mainly from the biblical stories in the First Book of the Kings. He lived around 850 B.C. when the King of Israel was Ahab. The king married a foreign princess, Jezebel, who was a worshipper of the god Baal. She set out to supplant the Worship of the God of Israel with the worship of this idol. The reign of Ahab was a time of prosperity for Israel but riches were for the few while poverty and oppression were the lot of many.
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Elijah is an enigmatic figure – he arrives on the scene very suddenly without any introduction and makes a dramatic exit in a fiery chariot. Elijah is portrayed as a man of God and man for the people. The central experience of Elijah as a man of God was his journey to Mount Horeb. Elijah had just won a stunning victory over the prophets of Baal when his sacrifice was accepted rather than theirs. Yet despite this demonstration of the Lord as the true God of Israel, fear of Jezebel left Elijah downhearted and depressed. God provided Elijah with the food which gave him strength to journey to Horeb.
There God spoke to Elijah not in the mighty crashing of thunder or earthquakes but in the sound of sheer silence. Strengthened by his encounter with God, Elijah is given his commission to return to his ministry. this scene is clearly a highpoint for Elijah and reflection on this scene caused him to be chosen as the hermits in Christian times. Yet it is throughout his ministry that we see Elijah portrayed as a man totally at God’s disposal. The Word God dominated the life of Elijah. He is the servant of God before whom he stands. The Word of God pointed toward service of the people.
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The prophet Elijah's sacrifice on Mount Carmel.
Ceramic by Adam Kossowski at Aylesford Priory, Kent. |
Elijah stained-glass window by Richard Joseph King at the National Shrine of Saint Jude, Faversham, Kent.
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Elijah is a model of the man of prayer, of one who listened for the voice of God in silence and solitude. The Carmelites changed from being hermits to being mendicant friars when they came to Europe. Then Elijah became for them also a model of their availability for the service of the people. Elijah, and the Carmelites after him, became a man for the people because he was a man of God. He proclaimed the justice of God in a world full of injustice. Elijah showed his solidarity with the poor and oppressed, with the marginalised of society. This too is an important part of the life of a Carmelite.
Elijah and his ministry therefore speaks to the two sides of the Carmelite vocation – contemplative and active. We seek to be men of God like him. God gave Elijah the strength to preach His word in difficult circumstances. Our world is very different from that of Elijah but we too are called to preach the word of God in and to a society which is often far from the ideal. We are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ whose whole life was dominated by the will of His Father. He proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was close at hand. By our prayer and service of others, we seek to become aware of the presence e of God in their lives. By being faithful to both sides of the Carmelite vocation, we will be faithful to our motto taken from the words of Elijah: I have been full of zeal for the Lord God of hosts.
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· What place does prayerful silence have in your life?
· What are you zealous for? · How do you witness to your faith? "Lay Carmelites also share the zeal of the prophet Elijah for the Lord and his law. They are ready to defend the rights of those who are downtrodden. They learn from the prophet to leave everything to go into the desert in order to be purified, made ready for their meeting with the Lord and to welcome his word. They feel impelled, like the prophet, to support true religion against false idols."
Constitutions of the Carmelite Third Order (2003) §35
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Mosaic of Elijah in Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church, Dublin.
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