THE DOUBLE SPIRIT
Elijah said to Elisha, “Request whatever I might do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha answered, “May I receive a double portion of your spirit.” He replied, “You have asked something that is not easy. Still, if you see me taken up from you, your wish will be granted; otherwise not.” As they walked on still conversing, a fiery chariot and fiery horses came between the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind, and Elisha saw it happen. He cried out, “My father! my father! Israel’s chariot and steeds!” Then he saw him no longer. (2 Kings 2:10-12)
The double spirit is holiness in both the active and the contemplative life.
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Gonzalinho
THE GREATNESS OF ELISHA THE PROPHET
ReplyDeleteThe biblical cycle of Elisha (2 Kgs) is strongly linked with that of Elijah. Elisha’s calling is placed after the theophany of the Horeb (1 Kgs 19: 16-21). According to the divine order, he is the one who is to succeed the Tishbite; Elisha therefore becomes Elijah’s servant and disciple (2 Kgs 3:11).
Like Elijah, Elisha is presented by the Church Fathers as a Christ figure, as a thaumaturge. He is also presented as a model for monastic life. Numerous Church Fathers attest to Elisha’s virginity following that of Elijah. The medieval Carmelites reproduced these lines insisting that Elijah and Elisha were the first to consecrate themselves to God in virginity. Prayer also plays a primordial role in Elisha’s life: it is the source of the miracles the Lord performs through him. Elisha is also portrayed as someone withdrawn from society. His initial renunciation, sacrificing his oxen and plow before following Elijah, is an example to exhort him to detach himself from worldly concerns (Jer., Ep. 71:3). For Cassian, Elisha is one of the founders of monasticism and, in a more special way, a teacher of poverty (Inst. 7:14, 2).
Elisha is constantly present as Elijah’s disciple, his spiritual son, his heir, the disciple par excellence. Elisha is not Elijah’s only disciple but within this group of disciples, Elisha occupies the first place.
https://www.ocarm.org/en/item/6387-st-elisha-prophet
—“Memorial of Saint Elisha, Prophet,” Carmelites: Ordo Fratrum Beatae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo, June 14, 2024
Elisha is often overshadowed by Elijah, rightly so, for Elisha is the disciple of the master. Elijah is also the only prophet besides Moses who appeared during the Transfiguration of our Lord on Mount Tabor.
Yet Elisha is himself marked by greatness, because through him God’s power was made exceptionally manifest. Elisha’s miracles include raising the Shunammite’s son from the dead (2 Kings 4:8-37), healing Naaman the Syrian of leprosy (2 Kings 5:1-19), and causing the oil and flour of the widow of Zarephath to not run out during a period of famine in Israel (1 Kings 17:7-16). Elisha prophesies, among others, the defeat of the Moabites (2 Kings 3:16-19), the end of the famine in Samaria (2 Kings 7:1-2), and Israel’s victory over Aram (2 Kings 13:16-19).
Gonzalinho