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Wednesday, June 09, 2004

Meditation
I Kings 18:20-39

An old reconstructed altar, twelve stones, wood, a bull cut in pieces, all doused with twelve large jars of water. Elijah certainly knew how to be dramatic, didn’t he? But really, he was only doing what God had told him to do (1 Kings 18:36). So the logical question is, Why would God give Elijah such bizarre commands? Wouldn’t it have been enough for him just to set the bull on fire? Was God really trying to prove himself?

Unlike us—especially in our more insecure moments—God didn’t need to prove who he was. Rather, he wanted to show how extravagant his love is for his people. He wanted this amazing feat to show the people that he can overcome anything, even a sopping wet bull and waterlogged wood.

Notice how after he made the sacrifice as flame resistant as possible, he prayed, “Answer me, O Lord, so this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back” (1 Kings 18:37). Yes, God longed to turn the people’s hearts back to him. He wanted to shatter any doubt. More than showing that he is the true God, he wanted his people to know he was completely committed to them. He wanted them to know that his love had not diminished in the least, even after his people had run after false gods.

God has not changed in his love or in his desire to show himself to us. Imagine yourself to be the sacrifice on the altar. We may have given our lives to him, but our weaknesses and sins may feel like water, drenching the wood and making it impervious to the fire of his love. Nothing is impossible for God! Nothing is greater than his abundant love for us. Just as the fire he sent down consumed everything—even the stones and every drop of water—he has placed his Holy Spirit inside us to consume us with his love and presence. God isn’t hidden from us after all! What great trust and confidence we can have in him because his heart is always turned toward us!

“Father, I praise you for your overflowing, all-consuming love! I praise you for your unquenchable desire to set my heart on fire. Lord, you truly are wonderful!”

One Bread, One Body

All Issues > Volume 20, Number 4

<< Wednesday, June 9, 2004 >>

St. Ephrem

1 Kings 18:20-39

Psalm 16

Matthew 5:17-19

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LIGHT MY FIRE

“Elijah appealed to all the people and said, ‘How long will you straddle the issue? If the Lord is God, follow Him; if Baal, follow him.’ ” —1 Kings 18:21

The chosen people of Elijah’s time straddled the issue of total commitment to the Lord. By calling down fire from heaven (see 1 Kgs 18:24ff), Elijah tried to move the people from lukewarmness to a zealous, total commitment to the Lord. Unfortunately, although Elijah was successful in bringing down fire from heaven, he was unsuccessful in putting fire into the hearts of God’s people.

The Lord is sick of and nauseated by lukewarmness (see Rv 3:16). In total love, He died on the cross for each of us. He rightly expects us to accept the grace to love Him with all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds, and all our strength (Lk 10:27). He commands us “to stir into flame” the fire of the Holy Spirit within us (2 Tm 1:6), Whom we received in Baptism and Confirmation. “Our God is a consuming Fire” (Heb 12:29), and He lives within us (Jn 17:23). So let the fire of His presence, power, and love burn in us forever (see Lk 12:49). Let the fire of Pentecost blaze in us and from us to “renew the face of the earth” (Ps 104:30).

Prayer: Father, set our hearts on fire as Jesus interprets for us the Scriptures (Lk 24:32).

Promise: “Of this much I assure you: until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter of the law, not the smallest part of a letter, shall be done away with until it all comes true.” —Mt 5:18

Praise: Living in a cave by choice, St. Ephrem was so wholehearted for God that he was eventually declared a Doctor of the Church.