Sometime during my younger years, I heard the expression: that someone was taking up the mantle. Taken literally, it didn't make sense because the only "mantle" I knew/ was the ledge over the opening of a fireplace. But with time, I learned that it meant a person taking up the responsibilities for someone else/ just like we heard about in today's first reading.
And though there may be seamless transitions from one person to the next, I believe that most of us wonder whether we are ready or able to take up the mantle for another. Though he appeared confident, Elisha must have known he would need not only the help that God gave to Elijah/ but double that amount.
Going back to the term "mantle"/ in ancient times it was an outer garment/ a cape to ward off the cold. If you've joined us for the Rosary, you might have noticed one of the Holy Cross seminarians wearing a black cape over their cassock. In a sense, they have taken up a mantle in discerning religious life and priesthood in Holy Cross.
My brothers and sisters, each one of us, is called through our baptismal vows to take up the mantle for someone else who is going or has returned to God. Some are called, like Father Willy Raymond, C.S.C. and the other Holy Cross Priests to religious life, others to be religious brothers or sisters, some to the married life, and some to the single life.
But what this reading reminds us is that God has a plan for each us to take up the mantle for another each in our unique way. Elisha had journeyed through life long enough/ to receive the faith necessary to ask for what he needed to carry on in Elijah's stead. God's grace was at work during the time these two men spent together. Elisha saw how God had worked through Elijah. And, so when the time came, when Elijah was taken up to God, and his mantle fell at the feet of Elisha, we see how Elisha picked up the mantle and struck the water in his turn and said: "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?"
At this moment, we see both action and prayer. The act of taking up the mantle and striking the water of the Jordan just as Elijah had done. And the prayer of calling upon God in faith.
What happens next is that God divided the water, allowing Elisha to fulfill his calling in taking up the mantle of Elijah, a man of God.
So let me ask: How has God called you? What mantle has He called you to take up in your life? And, perhaps, who is He calling you to mentor in the faith to one day take up your mantle?
...Big topics to pray, discuss, and act on; great questions to bring to our family supper tables or time out on the porch or maybe on a walk just like Elijah and Elisha.
May God bless you and your families this holy day!
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Reverend David S. Marcham is the Vice Postulator for the Cause of Venerable Patrick Peyton, and Director of the Father Peyton Guild, whose members pray for Father Peyton’s beatification and spread his message of the importance of Family Prayer. Prior to becoming a seminarian, Father David was a physical therapist and clinical instructor, serving hospital inpatients and outpatients throughout the greater Boston area for eleven years. In 1998 he heard the call to priesthood and was ordained in the Archdiocese of Boston in 2005. Father David grew up in Quincy, MA, and has fond memories of playing soccer, tennis and running track. You’re never without a friend when Father David is around, as he welcomes everyone into his circle with a smile on his face!
