June 14--St. Elisha, Prophet

Prophet Elisha licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

We don’t normally think of Old Testament persons as saints, but they can be. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “The patriarchs, prophets and certain other Old Testament figures have been and always will be honored as saints in all the Church’s liturgical traditions” (CCC 61). Today’s saint is included in that group, namely the prophet Elisha, the successor to Elijah.  He is included in the liturgical calendar of many Eastern Catholics, Orthodox Christians and the Carmelite religious order, who places its founding on Mount Carmel, where Sts. Elijah and Elisha spent much of their prophetic careers.

Elijah was considered the greatest of the Old Testament prophets and yet, Elisha received a double portion of his spirit when Elijah was taken up into heaven. What does that mean? It means that Elisha received acknowledgement as the “first-born” of Elijah, that he was the primary spiritual heir. Elisha continued the ministry of Elijah, performing twice as many miracles, including raising a man from the dead AFTER he had died! You can read about that in 2 Kings 13:20-21.

We are also spiritual heirs: “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:16-17). Just as Elisha continued the work of Elijah, we continue the work of Jesus! And what was Jesus’ mission? To bring about the Kingdom of God. First he proclaimed it, then he achieved it through his death and resurrection. What do we do? First we proclaim Jesus and his message of salvation, then “we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” St. Elisha, pray for us!

September 6--St. Zechariah, Prophet

 

Zacharias by Michelangelo.

We don’t usually think of Old Testament prophets as saints, but they are! They proclaimed the Word of God. Zechariah is the eleventh of the twelve minor prophets. Minor does not mean lesser; their writings are shorter than the four major prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Zechariah lived and prophesied at the time of the return to Israel after the Babylonian Captivity in the late 6th century BC: “Say to them: Thus says the LORD of hosts, Return to me—oracle of the LORD* of hosts—and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts” (Zec.1:3). He was concerned with the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem: “Therefore, thus says the LORD: I return to Jerusalem in mercy; my house will be rebuilt there—oracle of the LORD of hosts—and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem” (Zec. 1:16). He relates a series of visions, in much the same way as the Book of Daniel. In Chapter 14 he also prophesies about the “Day of the Lord,” which “focuses on the restoration of Jerusalem and the return of the people of Zion so that the rest of the world will acknowledge God’s sovereignty.” We don’t know a lot about Zechariah’s life except his parentage and time of prophecy. The name Zechariah means “God remembers.”

Each of us are commissioned as priests, prophets, and servant-kings at our baptism. To be a priest means to be one in worship of God; a servant-king serves the people he rules; and a prophet is a person who evangelizes–bringing the Good News of God’s Kingdom to the world. Zechariah was a prophet and we also share in that great ministry when we evangelize about the love of God in the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ. St. Zechariah, pray for us.

August 29—The Passion of St. John the Baptist

St. John the Baptist is commemorated in two feasts, his birth and his death.  We know from Scripture that he died due to the whims of Herodias, the invalid wife of Herod Antipas, and the acquiescence of her daughter, who is traditionally known as Salome.  Salome danced before Herod, who was so delighted that he promised to give her anything she wanted, up to half of his kingdom.  Herodias told her to ask for the head of John the Baptist, who had condemned her marriage to Herod because she was wife to Herod’s brother, Philip.  John the Baptist was not killed for his love for Christ as such; as the last of the prophets, he was killed because he witnessed to God’s truth of the sanctity of marriage.

Marriage is a sacred covenant, symbolic of Jesus’ love for the Church.  Marriage freely vows the husband and wife to a life of love as demonstrated in their acceptance of fidelity, permanence, and openness to each other in fertility, that is, willingness to accept children as gifts from God.  Jesus raised the institution of marriage to a sacrament and stated, “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.  For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother [and be joined to his wife], and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate” (Mark 10:6-9).  

Marriage is not about the fulfillment of a sexual desire, or a statement of civil rights, but rather it is a witness to the love of Christ for the Church.  Therefore, every sacramentally married couple participates in a special way in the very love of Christ for us, his Church.  And so it is up to every sacramentally married couple to witness to that love by their faithfulness to each other, by the permanence of their marriage until death do them part, and in their willing acceptance of children as conceived in accord with the great gifts of unity and potential procreation in each act of marital love.  These are the truths for which St. John the Baptist died.  He can be called the patron and defender of marriage in our day and age.