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Scripture Reflections
16 July 2013, Tuesday, Our Lady of Mount Carmel
LEARNING HOW TO BE EFFECTIVE INTERCESSORS THROUGH ELIJAH AND MARY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 KG 18:42B-45A; GAL 4:4-7; JN 19:25-27 (CF JMS 5:17)

Carmel as we know is a biblical place in the bible. It was at Mount Carmel that Elijah proved himself to be the true prophet of God when he challenged the false prophets of Baal to a demonstration of the power of God. He called upon the God of Israel in prayer and in faith to send fire to burn up the holocaust he offered in sacrifice drenched in a trench of water. God sent fire to consume the burnt offering of the bull. Such was the faith of Elijah that God worked through him. This miracle was then followed up by another miracle of the sending of the rain as Israel was going through a drought. We read how “Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel and bowed down to the earth, putting his face between his knees” in prayer. And we are told his prayers were once again answered. The rain came and “fell in torrents.” It is in this context that today’s first reading must be understood.

Today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The Carmelites see in the Blessed Virgin Mary a perfect model of the interior life of prayer and contemplation to which Carmelites aspire, a model of virtue, as well as the person who was closest in life to Jesus Christ. Like Elijah who retreated interiorly to Carmel to wait upon the Lord in faith and prayer, devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a special call to the interior life, which is pre-eminently a Marian life. Our Lady wants us to resemble her in heart and spirit. If we gaze into Mary’s soul, we shall see that grace in her has flowered into a spiritual life of incalculable wealth – a life of recollection, prayer, un-interrupted oblation to God and intimate union with Him.

What then is the secret of efficacious prayers? The fundamental criterion is holiness of life. St James wrote, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.” (James 5:16f) Indeed, the Prophet Elijah declared, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord.” (1 Kg 18:22) His pursuit for righteousness and the purity of faith led him to challenge his people saying, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him but if Baal, then follow him!” (1 Kg 18:21).

So if we want to pray and intercede effectively, then we must keep ourselves holy. The responsorial psalm reiterates this precondition of prayers when the psalmist says, “Lord, who shall be admitted to your tent and dwell on your holy mountain? He who walks without fault; he who acts with justice and speaks the truth from his heart; he who does not slander with his tongue; he who does no wrong to his brother, who casts no slur on his neighbor; who holds the godless in disdain, but honours those who fear the Lord.” It is for this reason that people come to believe that those who live in contemplative life are given the special gift of intercession for others because of their holiness of life. For what is holiness if not living a consecrated life, giving everything we have and who we are to God, our time, our work and daily life.

Why is holiness of life so necessary for prayer? In the first place, it gives the person access to God. This is what the psalmist says. Only when a person is holy, is he or she in real communion with God, since a person who lives in grace is filled with the Holy Spirit and often given the gift of infused knowledge. Through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, namely, wisdom, understanding, knowledge and counsel, they are able to pray more effectively for those who come to them for prayers.

Holiness also implies detachment. To be holy is to be separated from others so that our lives are given to God. Only those who live lives of detachment and have no vested interests can truly pray for those who come to them. When we pray in a disinterested way, God hears our prayers because it comes from a pure heart of compassion.

Holiness of life means a person is conscious of his or her identity as a daughter or son of God. In the second reading, we read, “The proof that you are sons is that God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts: the Spirit that cries, ‘Abba, Father’, and it is this that makes you a son, you are not a slave anymore; and if God has made you son, then he has made you heir.” When we are conscious of our identity, then we know that God is our Father. It is a relationship of love and trust. In intimate union with God through contemplation and prayer, we can rest our heads on the bosom of our Father and listen to His heart and commune with Him. With a union of heart, mind and will, we can then pray confidently like Jesus and Mary, knowing that He has our best interests at heart. We can then surrender our lives to Him, trusting in His wisdom that His will is best for us.

So how can we become more and more a son and daughter of God? St Paul gives us the clue. He wrote, “When the appointed time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law and to enable us to be adopted as sons.” Jesus makes us adopted sons in the Son. However, this is only possible through Mary. We are called to learn from her what it means to be a son and daughter of God. She is the exemplar of what it takes to be a daughter of the heavenly Father. She is a model of holiness and of faith in God. Through her, we learn how to live a life of faith expressed in charity.

Not only is prayer made efficacious through a life of holiness but is augmented when we turn to our Blessed Mother for help. Mary is the most powerful intercessor and mediatrix before our Lord Jesus Christ. He wants us to come to His throne of grace through His Blessed Mother, since He came into this world through her. And at the end of His life, He gave her to us so that we will be assured of someone who constantly intercedes for us efficaciously. For who is more holy and closer to our Lord, divested of all selfish interests save for her compassion than our Blessed Mother? Hence, in the gospel, before He died, Jesus gave her to the Church when He instructed the Beloved disciple to take her into his home. “Seeing his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son’. Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother’. And from that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home.”

As we celebrate the Feast of our Lady of Mount Carmel, let us reflect on how to be effective Intercessors. We need firstly, holiness, as sin separates us from union with God. Secondly, we need to acquire the indomitable faith of Elijah and Mary in the power of God to conquer seemingly hopeless situations. This faith was made possible by their intimate relationship with God, leading them to trust in Him confidently. Thirdly, we need to be persistent in prayer. Like Elijah, we will not doubt His power and mercy but with perseverance, we know that God will answer in His own time, even if we have to go back to pray the seventh time as he told the servant, “Go back seven times’ Elijah said. The seventh time, the servant said, ‘Now there is a cloud, small as a man’s hand, rising from the sea’.”

The Heart of the Intercessor must take after the Sacred Heart, filled with love and compassion. To be intercessors, we must be like Elijah who prayed fervently for rain for the people of Israel out of compassion for their suffering, and like Mary our mother, our model and intercessor who brings us to Jesus out of her love for us. Let us therefore strive for holiness and the interior life. Let us ask for the grace for a renewed and deeper prayer life so that, as sons and daughters of God, we can be secure in intimate union with Him and our lives be translated into a life of compassion through intercession and works of mercy for humanity.

Written by The Most Rev Msgr William Goh
Archbishop of Singapore
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