WINNING WAYS

“How awesome are you, Elijah! Whose glory is equal to yours?” –Sirach 48:4

For about ten days, the Church has been reading to us about Elijah. Today we conclude this series. Before we move on, we need to be sure that we receive the message exemplified by Elijah. Elijah successfully brought down the culture of death led by Ahab and Jezebel. We have a similar mission: to bring down secular humanism’s culture of death in the Western world.

Elijah’s success was based on prophecy, listening to God’s whisper (1 Kgs 19:12ff), and discipleship. These three essential dynamics of life in Christ are critical for the modern Church to operate in power. If Christians are unaware that they have been baptized into Christ, the Prophet, they have not understood or obeyed the Lord’s command to seek the gift of prophecy more than any other spiritual gifts (1 Cor 14:1). Secondly, listening to God’s whispers in solitude and silence is a rarity in our media-driven culture of noise. Finally, if Christians do not have their primary identity as disciples of Christ, they are in no position to make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:19).

When we learn Elijah’s lessons, we will see Elijah’s victory over our culture of death. Be another Elijah as was St. John the Baptizer (see Lk 1:17).

PRAYER: Father, send the Holy Spirit to teach me how to apply Jesus’ definitive victory over the evil one.
PROMISE: “Forgive us the wrong we have done as we forgive those who wrong us.” –Mt 6:12
PRAISE: Theresa begins her day and ends her day with quiet time with the Lord.P