“God’s great love for the human race saw the prophet sorrowing over the great transgressions of all. Elijah was enraged, and he hurled these unmerciful words to the Merciful One: Become angry and cry out against those who turned against You, O just Judge. Move the heart of every good person to torment your enemies. The only Lover of Mankind always seeks the repentance of all.” Ikos for the Glorious Prophet Elijah
Elijah was a righteous man living in unrighteous times (for example, read I Kings 17-19). He struggled against ungodly kings and queens, false prophets, siding with the truth. At times God came to his side and showed miraculously who was right. Think of the prophets of Baal and Elijah calling fire down from heaven, something that God granted at that time, but would later not grant with some other followers of God (Luke 9:54-55)…
The Glorious Prophet Elijah can teach us so much about our humanity, as we meditate upon the conflict in his world, and our world today. Church corruption, political insanity, the overall inhumanity, loneliness and sin of our day can be faithfully documented. Will that bring us to a good vision of how to respond to it all? Perhaps, perhaps not. It must never cast us away from the most important vision of all, and that is the beauty of this world and all of creation, even our enemies who are currently our enemies…
We may cry for un-mercy as did Elijah, and it may be because of the hurt we have received, but if we profess to follow the Merciful One, His response to our prayers may sometimes be a No that appears to contradict us. If we see more mystically, this response will transform us and take us to see the higher reality of reconciliation and repentance… let your heart meet mercy, whether it is content or full of rage. Transformation is real, and it is what we all need.
(Abridged from https://prayerofsaintephrem.blog/2019/07/20/when-rage-meets-mercy/)
Saturday, July 17 –
