Elijah is considered one of the
greatest prophets in the history of Israel.
He is the one for whom an empty seat is left during the Passover meal that
the Jews celebrate each year. In today’s
first reading, we hear about the moment before Elijah is going to be taken up
to heaven by the Lord, when the mantle of prophet is going to be passed to
Elisha. Elijah offers to do what Elisha
wants before he is taken up by the Lord. Elisha’s response is very remarkable
indeed: to receive a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. Elisha desires to serve the Lord as a prophet
just as Elijah did, and he want to be legitimately recognized as such and to
have Elijah’s spirit follow him. In the
end, we see that God has indeed blessed Elisha in this way, as he is able to
part the Jordan River just as Moses and Elijah were able to do.
I am really edified by the tenacity and
fervent faith that Elijah and Elisha display in wanting to serve the Lord as his
prophets, knowing the difficulty, frustration, and danger that are attached to
such a service. If we could all feel
such fervor in whatever way we serve the Lord in our own lives. Sometimes what so many in our society are
looking for is the easy way out, or for a life filled with as much pleasure and
material success as possible. Any of us
can fall into that trap. Let us open the
hearts to the ways we can serve the Lord with humility and selflessness. Tomorrow evening we are going to recognize
the vigil mass of the feast of St Thomas More and St John Fisher. These men were both executed by Henry VIII in
16th century England for their allegiance to their Catholic
faith. We will kick off the Fortnight of
Faith tomorrow at this vigil mass. Their
desire to serve the Lord, and their willingness to accept the sufferings that
such a service entailed, give us two other examples of faithfulness in addition
to Elijah and Elisha. May these
witnesses of faith speak strongly to us today.
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