Our first reading checks in with the struggle between Elijah
the prophet and the wicked king Ahab.
Ahab and Jezebel were perennial enemies of Elijah and the Israelite
faith as they turned their back on God to worship Baal. At this point in the story God has
caused a drought because of the wickedness of the people.
I
have had the fortune to be on Mount Carmel, the place on which Elijah prayed the
drought would subside. It is a lush
mount that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. When I was there I read this passage, imagining that small
cloud that was first seen by Elijah’s servant—a sign of the rain to come.
Mount
Carmel was a pivotal place for Elijah’s labor against pagan worship. It was here he took on 450 prophets of
Baal. They had a contest in which
both would set up an altar and a sacrifice and call upon the divine to consume
it with fire. The priests of Baal
tried—and failed—as Baal was not a god at all. Along the way Elijah taunts them—“Cry louder, he must be
sleeping. Maybe he’s on vacation!” When it was Elijah’s turn he rebuilt
the true altar and even doused the sacrifice with water. When he called on God, God answered
with fire.
Even
today Mount Carmel has an important place in our faith. It was on Mount Carmel that the
Carmelite Order was founded. This
order has two well known saints and doctors of the Church—St. John of the Cross
and St. Teresa of Avila. Their
charism is like the mount itself—to walk up to God through prayer and
meditation.
We
come to a spiritual mount this afternoon as we come to Mass. We leave the world to walk up to
God. As we do, may we reflect on
what is happening here well.
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