SCRIPTURE READING
1 Kings 17:1-7
At the wadi Cherith
Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead said to Ahab, “As Yahweh lives, the God of Israel whom I serve, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except at my order.”
The word of Yahweh came to him, “Go away from here, go eastward, and hide yourself in the Wadi Cherith which lies east of Jordan. You can drink from the stream, and I have ordered the ravens to bring you food there.” He did as Yahweh had said; he went and stayed in the Wadi Cherith which lies east of Jordan. The ravens brought him bread in the morning and meat in the evening, and he quenched his thirst at the stream.
MEDITATION
The Science of the Cross, Chapter 1
Go forth into the desert
In Carmel—under the mitigated Rule as well—the remembrance of the Prophet Elijah, the “Leader and Father of Carmelites” lived on. The Institutio Primorum Monachorum set the prophet before the eyes of the young religious as a model of the contemplative life. This prophet whom God commanded to go forth into the desert, to conceal himself by the brook Carith across from the Jordan, to drink the water of the brook and to be nourished by the food which God would send him, is to be the model of all who withdraw into solitude renouncing sin and all sensory pleasures, indeed all earthly things.
PRAYER
Lord, God of our fathers,
you brought Saint Teresa Benedicta
to the fullness of the science of the cross
at the hour of her martyrdom.
Fill us with that same knowledge;
and, through her intercession,
allow us always to seek after you, the supreme truth,
and to remain faithful until death
to the covenant of love ratified in the blood of your Son
for the salvation of all men and women.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.
All scripture references are from The Jerusalem Bible Reader’s Edition, copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday & Company, Inc. as accessed from The Internet Archive website.
Stein, E 2002, The Science of the Cross, The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Book 6, translated from the German by Koeppel, J, ICS Publications, Washington D.C.
Carmelite Quotes 