recalling his mighty deeds at the Exodus.29 The king lifts his hands toward heaven and begs the Lord, on his own behalf, on behalf of the entire people and of the generations yet to come, for the forgiveness of their sins and for their daily needs, so that the nations may know that He is the only God and that the heart of his people may belong wholly and entirely to him.

Elijah, the prophets and conversion of heart

2581 For the People of God, the Temple was to be the place of their education in prayer: pilgrimages, feasts and sacrifices, the evening offering, the incense, and the bread of the Presence

1150

(‘shewbread’) — all these signs of the holiness and glory of God

Most High and Most Near were appeals to and ways of prayer. But ritualism often encouraged an excessively external worship. The people needed education in faith and conversion of heart; this was the mission of the prophets, both before and after the Exile. 2582 Elijah is the ‘father’ of the prophets, ‘the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God ofJacob’.3° Elijah’s name, ‘The Lord is my God’, foretells the people’s cry in response to his prayer on Mount Carmel.3’ StJames refers to Elijah in order to encourage us to pray: ‘The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.’32 2583 After Elijah had learned mercy during his retreat at the Wadi Cherith, he teaches the widow of Zarephath to believe in the Word of God and confirms her faith by his urgent prayer: God brings the widow’s child back to life.33 The sacrifice on Mount Carmel is a decisive test for the faith of the People of God. In response to Elijah’s plea, ‘Answer me, O

696

LORD, answer me’, the Lord’s fire consumes the holocaust, at the

time of the evening oblation. The Eastern liturgies repeat Elijah’s plea in the Eucharistic epiclesis. Finally, taking the desert road that leads to the place where the living and true God reveals himself to his people, Elijah, like Moses before him, hides ‘in a cleft of the rock’ until the mysterious presence of God has passed by.34 But only on the mountain of the

555

Transfiguration will Moses and Elijah behold the unveiled face of

him whom they sought; ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God [shines] in the face of Christ’, crucified and risen.35