Dec 11: The Challenge to be Elijah and John

Giuseppe Angeli: Elijah Taken Up in a Chariot of Fire

Saturday of the Second Week of Advent
Reading I: Sir 48:1-4, 9-11

You were taken up by a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with horses of fire. At the appointed time, it is written, you are destined to calm the wrath of God before it breaks out in fury, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and to restore the tribes of Jacob (NRSV, Sir 48:9-10).

Lord God, your people in the time of Jesus looked forward to the return of Elijah, taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot, that he might introduce the messianic age. Your evangelist Luke writes that the angel Gabriel announced to Zechariah that his son to be born, John, would go in the spirit and the power of Elijah. Jesus himself, in Matthew’s gospel, presumably also speaking of John and his being put to death, says that Elijah had indeed already come but that he was unrecognized and that they did to him what pleased them.

Father, over the years, in pondering your written Word and its significance for me, I have concluded, not alone, with others, that what is said to one in scripture is in a real sense said to all. When one is sent that mission is truly given as well to everyone.

In his expected return, Elijah was understood to be the forerunner of the messianic age. John the Baptist in truth was the precursor of the Lord Jesus. Their role of announcing the coming of the Lord, if I understand well what you speak to me at the depth of my being, is entrusted as well to me, indeed to everyone who hears the message and stands ready to accept the challenge.

Your kingdom, Lord, is a future event but it is also breaking in upon the present. Resurrection is now, clearly for Jesus, but it also has its beginning in everyone ready to say “yes” to your offer of divine life.

Lord, continue to pour out your divine life upon us. Invite us, all of us, to be forerunners of your coming into the world. You challenge us to announce the message in words, yes, but in words filled with meaning, by lives that have been transformed. Fill us with the spirit and power of Elijah, your spirit and power, that we will become real instruments of peace in the world. Enable us to minister to the needs of the poor and the ill at home and around the world. May your healing power radiate out from us to others. Help us to fulfill ourselves by lives given for others, lives devoted to serving one another. May we truly be Elijah and John for our sisters and brothers.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.