Prophets and gardens

Today's contribution comes from Andrea Cope OCDS:

'Our Holy Father Elijah’s motto and for the Carmelite Order is “with zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of Hosts.”  Do we have that zeal now? Elijah presented the people with two options in the book of Kings, “If the Lord is the true God, worship him. But if Baal is God, worship him.”  One of our promises in the Order is to be obedient. At its root to be obedient means to listen. Who are we listening to today and which spirit?  There have only been two. One of counterfeit and one of truth. The spirit of Elijah standing before the people to bring them into a right relationship with God on the one hand; or the spirit of Jezebel.  There are equally two Gardens.  On the one hand that of the Spirit of Carmel with life-giving waters for all who wish to drink from it, with nourishment on the journey up to God; on the other hand that of Eden, still questioning, negotiating, with Jezebel and the line of her prophets, no authentic friendship with God, a zeal for self and no humility.  In the book, The Sound of Silence by Joseph Chalmers, the author brings to us again the Spirit of Elijah in an authentic and fresh way - using the Book of Kings for Lectio and Centering prayer. In this book he says, “the contemplative way … leads to the complete transformation of the human person, whereby our ways of seeing, loving and interacting with the world, which are limited, become divine ways.” This use of lectio, bringing people to the divine with the document that never changes, could infuse and fan the flame of that spirit into the Order and to the Church for all who come to meet it.'

Intercessions

Rosemarie - multiple afflictions

Siena - infant with severe medical issues

Imogen - long and slow recovery from invasive surgery

Bernard - cancer, and wife Angela as she supports him