20th July / 2nd August
Gospel Reading: St Luke 4:22-30
Gospel Reading: St Luke 4:22-30
NOW we are making a prayerful commemoration in honour of
one of the greatest prophets of ancient time, Elias the Thesbite (i.e.
from the town of Thesbe). We generally think that people are called prophets who
can foretell the future. But this is far from true. The prophets, these
were pious people chosen by God, who instructed the people in the Faith,
who dared to convict the dishonourable, threatening them with
punishments from God. Pious people, however, they comforted with the
hope of the coming into the world of the promised Saviour, and, to
confirm that they had been sent by God, the Lord gave them the power to
work miracles and to foretell the future.
In doing this, they sincerely
and often boldly besought the Heavenly King with regard to those sinners
who were dallying in lawlessness. And it is exactly such a man that the
glorious Elias was, who is called an angel in the flesh by the Church
because of his rigorous manner of life, full of every kind of
deprivation, and the constant striving of his heart and mind towards
God. He appeared in the days of the impious Israelite King
Ahab and the latter’s evil wife, Jezebel, when almost all the people,
forgetting the true God, had sunk into lawlessness. As stern instruction
did not work, some other, stronger remedy was necessary. And so Elias
appeared before Ahab and remonstrated with him: “As the Lord God of
Israel liveth, in these years there shall be neither dew nor rain except
at my word.”
The heavens were shut up, the earth dried up, and a great
famine fell upon that land. Seeing such affliction, the people came to
the understanding that this was a punishment from God, and little by
little they began to repent. Ahab and his Jezebel alone would not humble
themselves at all, and they sought Elias everywhere, because they
considered that he was responsible for what had come to pass. How like
our situation this is! When our behaviour is shown us as bad in some
way, we never think of correcting this, but before anything else we dig
ourselves in lest anyone might see this. Grant us here and now such a
man that he might make us aware!
In the end Elias appeared before Ahab, his wife Jezebel
and a multitude of pagan priests, all of whom still worhipped idols, and
he proposed that he would demonstrate the power of the true God before
all the people. For this purpose, two altars with sacrifices were made
ready, one in honour of Baal and the other for the God Whom Elias
worshipped. And it was agreed among all the people that the One who sent
down fire from heaven on His sacrifice would be accepted as the true
God.
The pagan priests of Baal prayed long and until they grew
weak, and, of course, as soon as Elias prayed immediately a heavenly
fire fell upon the sacrifice though it was soaked in the water, which
had been poured around abundantly. And then all the people, struck by
such a wonder, cried out: “The Lord, Whom Elias worhippeth, is the true
God!” On that very day, at Elias’ word, rain fell, though there had been
none for three years and six months.
Even before this the Lord had several times been
attentive to the supplication of His servant. It is known that through
the prayers of Elias a handful of flour and a small quantity of oil,
belonging to a certain pious widow of Sarepta in Sidon, were sufficient,
to feed several persons in the days of that dreadful famine. When the
son of this widow died, then Elias prayed and he rose again. Such is the
power of prayer!
But someone will say, he was a great prophet. Yes, that
is true. That is why the Church calls us to emulate him, which is fully
possible for Elias was a man like unto us (James 5:17). Know that it was
not to the prophets and Apostles only that Christ said, “Ask and it
shall be given you,” but it was said in general to all His true
followers. Listen: “it shall be given you” provided only that we pray
with perseverance, with deep faith, and that the object of our petition
is not contrary to the wisdom and goodness of God or the good of the
person who prays. Unfortunately, we confine ourselves only to exterior
prayers. In actual fact, two or three prayers we have learned, the sign
of the Cross with a prostration - and that is all! We skate, as one
might say, on the surface, and we think that we have already prayed. No,
this is only a preparation for real prayer.
Imagine a cold, unheated
room. Then you put wood in the stove; it flares up but still the room is not warmed. The
desired temperature will be reached later, when the wood is burning
through and the stove closed down. It is something like this with
prayer. The holy words that you have learned are like the logs, warming
up your soul and bringing it to the boil. Then, and only then, the
reading of the appointed prayers may be curtailed, the soul speaks
herself, and from the eyes tears of joy will flow.
Oh, what a blessed condition!… It does not last for long,
and of course, it rarely happens, but should we experience it only once
we will unremittingly yearn for it to be repeated. Here, indeed, is the
prayer which is capable of bowing Heaven down and the mercy of God to
work great signs and even miracles….
Holy Prophet of God, glorious Elias, such was thy power
in prayer that the heavens were shut up, and again fire and water were
called down from heaven, help us sinners that our hearts may be set
alight with the flame of prayer and that tears of repentance might flow,
that the Lord might also deem us worthy to be with thee….
Holy, glorious Elias, pray unto God for us! Amen.
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