{"id":3772,"date":"2022-02-28T10:20:38","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T17:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.betrayedcatholics.com\/?p=3772"},"modified":"2022-02-28T10:20:38","modified_gmt":"2022-02-28T17:20:38","slug":"join-us-in-the-prophet-elias-prayer-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.betrayedcatholics.com\/join-us-in-the-prophet-elias-prayer-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Join us in the Prophet Elias Prayer Challenge!"},"content":{"rendered":"

+May all enjoy a holy Lent+<\/strong><\/p>\n

As we approach the somber days of Lent, let us use this time productively to ask our readers to join together in 40 days of prayer to seek a solution to this ever-deepening crisis that has ripped our beloved Church to shreds and threatens to engulf the world. A new schism looms regarding Francis and his New World Order affiliations, and internal rifts are running rampant among Traditionalist groups.<\/p>\n

Traditionalists viciously attack each other and anyone daring to question their stance on social media platforms, scandalizing anyone not Catholic who might be reading their content. And this even with their so-called priests looking on. (To see a refutation of claims made against this site and read about the latest controversy surrounding the material-formal \u201cthesis\u201d among the CMRI sect, visit https:\/\/www.keepandshare.com\/doc18\/25524\/cmri-clergy-accusations-pdf-351k?dn=y&dnad=y<\/a> and https:\/\/www.keepandshare.com\/doc18\/25525\/cmri-material-formal-flap-pdf-204k?dn=y&dnad=y<\/a>).<\/p>\n

God will not be mocked forever, and His honor and glory demand we do all in our power to offend Him no more. Prayer is the only answer to this disaster and one man, one glorious prophet seems to be the very saint who can best address every problem we are currently facing. We need answers, and we need them quickly. We can only hope that 40 days will give us enough time to pray fervently and sincerely for those answers and receive them. And that time period itself actually comes into play where the holy Prophet Elias is concerned. For Elias spent 40 days in the desert, roughly the time-span of Lent itself. What was he doing there? Fleeing from the evil queen Jezebel, who he feared would take his life, after challenging and defeating the false prophets on Mt. Carmel who were deceiving the Chosen People. And so here we stand, garbed in our scapulars, begging him to assist us in these times that, as Christ Himself warned us, would be like no other.<\/p>\n

The Carmelite Order celebrates St. Elias\u2019 feast day on July 20. We read the following from Carmel, Its History, Spirit, and Saints <\/em>(P.J. Kennedy & Sons, New York, 1927; pgs. 240-42): \u201cThe Holy Prophet is invoked against pestilence, to avert public calamities, to restore peace of soul<\/em><\/strong>, [also against drought, floods and famines \u2014 Ed.] and to draw down the blessings of God on those aspiring to perfection, as is proved in innumerable cases among the Saints and Blessed of Carmel. He is also called upon to avert wars <\/em><\/strong>and a remarkable instance is given when Roger of Sicily had to sustain terrible combats against the Saracens. So immediate was the answer of his prayers, that the pious Count built a Church and Monastery in honor of Elijah and presented it to the Carmelites. Many churches, altars, and statues have been erected in his name; states and cities have chosen him for Patron.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis devotion is proper to these latter times when the crimes of men are such as to weary the Divine patience and draw down calamities upon the human race. It is well to seek the charitable aid of him \u201cwho has been chosen to appease the wrath of God\u2019 <\/em><\/strong>\u201d (Ecclesiasticus). Then, too, each day brings us nearer the time when he will come among us with the last message of mercy and forgiveness, ere he sheds his blood for the Lord \u2018in whose sight he stands<\/em><\/strong>.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Blessed Elias\u2019 primary mission was the destruction of false sacrifices and the false priesthood of those offering them<\/em><\/strong>. He is to come again during the last three and a half years of Antichrist\u2019s reign to convert the Jewish people, to guide the Church and to preach penance according to Catholic scriptural commentators. Secondary, then, was his mission to open the eyes of Israel\u2019s faithful, and alert them to the gravity of their errors and the deception of these evil men. \u00a0Pope Clement VIII declared that the conversion of sinners is one aspect of Elias\u2019 mission, perpetuated by the Carmelites. And how could this be otherwise when, as the Carmelites have long held, the little cloud seen by Elias floating over the Mediterranean Sea in the form of a foot prefigured the coming of the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of the Messiah, refuge of sinners. She appeared at Fatima to beg the children to pray and make sacrifices for sinners. And during the sixth Fatima vision, the Miracle of the Sun, she appeared as Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and Our Lady of Sorrows. \u00a0If we wish to obtain the conversion of sinners and to stay the prospects of war, St. Elias is truly our patron \u2014 for he has been venerated for centuries in that country and is even the patron of Russia\u2019s Air Force!<\/em><\/strong> https:\/\/orthochristian.com\/140879.html<\/a><\/p>\n

We read from another Orthodox website: \u201cThe Prophet Elias was in essence the first monk and the first dedicated to virginity in the Old Testament. A great faster, he walked barefoot, wore a rough mantle of camel\u2019s hair, which was very coarse, uncomfortable, irritated the skin and resembled a hairshirt worn by Christian ascetics. He wore a leather girdle around his waist (like Orthodox monks) and carried a staff in his hand (like bishops) as a symbol of his special spiritual authority.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd St. Elias said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, thrown down Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away (3 Kings 19:10). This is precisely what we often say nowadays: \u201cO Lord, look, Your children have abandoned Your churches, they have been languishing in vices and debauchery, they are greedy for gain and seek only pleasures, bending the knee to demons in sects!\u201d And, like the apostles, we want to exclaim: Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them (Lk. 9:54). And we will certainly hear the meek answer: \u201cYe know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them\u201d (Lk. 9:55-56). The Lord answered the same to St. Elias.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us bear in mind these words of our Savior: I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled! (Lk. 12:49). This fire is the Divine zeal that induces us to overcome our laziness, neglect, pride, and all other things that stand between us and Christ. And may the Lord help us scorch all the impediments caused by our enemy, our foe, by this Divine fire. Amen.\u201d And on these texts we will comment at greater length below.<\/p>\n

Prayer to St. Elias <\/strong>(from Carmel, Its History, Spirit, and Saints<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Holy Prophet of God Elias, intercede for us and for the salvation of all.<\/p>\n

V: Pray for us, O holy Father Elias.
\nR: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.<\/p>\n

Let us pray<\/em>
\nGrant, we beseech Thee, O Almighty God, that we who believe that the Blessed Elias Thy Prophet and our Father was wonderfully carried up in a fiery chariot, may by his intercession be raised to the desire of heavenly things and rejoice in the society of Thy saints. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.<\/p>\n

And to this prayer we add the following, based on Kings 19:10 and the Gospel of St. John:<\/p>\n

O blessed Elias, come deliver us in person we beg thee, if it be God\u2019s appointed time for thy appearance! But if it is not yet that time, with great confidence, we humbly and desperately beseech thee to intercede with us before God to chastise and disperse those among us who, as in your day, have:<\/p>\n