Elijah's Legacy

From Louange de sa gloire:

Elijah, the man of God, the zealous servant, has left his mark on salvation history. He is venerated even today by Christians, Jews and Moslems.

If Elijah has left his mark on salvation history, he has also left it on the Carmelite Order. From its origin on Mount Carmel at the dawn of the thirteenth century the Order of Carmel has venerated Elijah as its leader and model. The prophet of Carmel belongs to the roots of the Order. So much so, that if in the future Carmel were to forget its relationship to Elijah, it would soon pass out of existence. For any society, and this is true of a religious society, once separated from its roots slowly fragments. A society without roots is like a flower pulled loose from its bed that blossoms for a while and then withers and dies. Carmel, then, must never be separated from its spiritual father.

-- Elijah, the spiritual father of Carmel by Fr Kilian Healy, OCarm