Category: Faith & Life

Queen Jezebel, wife of King Ahab and a Phoenician worshiper of Baal, sent a messenger to Elijah, threatening his life. Elijah had confronted 450 prophets of Baal and executed them after God answered his prayer by sending fire from heaven to consume the offering he had prepared on the altar (1 K 18:37–40). Following this divine intervention, the Lord ended the drought by sending rain. Despite the powerful demonstration, when Elijah learned his life was in danger, he fled in fear into the wilderness. There, he pleaded with the Lord to take his life, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers” (1 K 19:4). He lay down under a solitary broom tree and slept. Then, an angel of the Lord touched him and said, “Arise and eat.” He found bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water. After eating and resting, the angel returned and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you” (1 K 19:5–7).

What is charity?Charity, or divine love in us, is the virtue among virtues and the theological virtue of love. 

We read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC, no. 1813): The theological virtues are the foundation of Christian moral activity… They inform and give life to all the moral virtues.  

The apostles’ request—“Increase our faith!”—is one we’ve all echoed at some point, when we could not take in pains, despite our best efforts to believe, when we doubted God altogether when tragedies stuck our lives unawares and how many other ways! “Increase our faith” sounds noble, even holy.

Although the prophet Elijah did not author any biblical book, I chose to begin by presenting him as a model of prophetic ministry. Elijah is often compared to Moses, who is regarded as one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament. Significantly, both Elijah and Moses appear together on Mount Tabor during Jesus’ transfiguration, symbolizing the continuity between the Law and the Prophets.

I begin this series to help us deepen our understanding of the Word of God, the source of the life of the Church. To open our Bible, as Catholics, means to acknowledge that an oral tradition preceded the written word and that the same tradition —the teaching of the Apostles —is treasured by the Church. Although no word can be added to it, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Church is challenged to deepen its understanding of the written word and to discover how it can be applied to different contexts and various historical settings.