In the first reading
of today’s liturgy, 1 Kings 17: 1-6, Elijah
tells Ahab that as long as he was serving the people, “there shall be no dew or
rain except at my word.” Imagine the
uproar once the people heard Elijah’s proclamation. And what might have been
their reaction at hearing that Elijah was
nowhere to be found. The author
of 1 Kings tells us that the Lord commanded Elijah to leave and “go east and
hide in the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan.” There, God tells him, “[y]ou
shall drink of the stream, and I have commanded ravens to feed you there.” Elijah follows God’s command. As he settled
by the Wadi Cherith, ravens “brought him bread and meat in the morning, and
bread and meat in the evening and he drank from the stream.”
How can this be, I ask myself! I may rant and rave: “How unfair to the people he was
serving! And God protects him! What
about the people whose land is being ravaged by drought?”
Life is unfair, so it seems! Like Ahab and his people, we
sometimes face drought (or flooding or fire) that destroys the land's ability to
produce or, we ourselves are in an accident that deprives us of our ability to provide for ourselves or our families. At other times, like Elijah, we, too, have to relocate to protect ourselves and our
families. Sometimes, we do not know from
where our next meal will come, yet it does. Someone reaches out to help us when
we least expect it. Sometimes, we are the ones helping others who have encountered tragedy. When disaster strikes out of
nowhere, it seems, God provides, as He did for Elijah. As today's responsorial psalm says, the “guardian
of Israel” neither slumbers or sleeps” (Ps. 121).
Lord, may I look upon life through the eyes of faith, knowing that you are beside me at my right hand (see Ps. 121). And may I remember this truth especially in "bad" times. And, as important, may I remember that you have no hands or feet but mine. At times I am the "raven" you command to "feed" the hungry!
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