Achab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered together the prophets unto mount Carmel.21 And Elias coming to all the people, said: How long do you halt between two sides? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word.22 And Elias said again to the people: I only remain a prophet of the Lord: but the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men.23 Let two bullocks be given us, and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces and lay it upon wood, but put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it.24 Call ye on the names of your gods, and I will call on the name of my Lord: and the God that shall answer by fire, let him be God. And all the people answering said: A very good proposal.25 Then Elias said to the prophets of Baal: Choose you one bullock and dress it first, because you are many: and call on the names of your gods, but put no fire under.26 And they took the bullock which he gave them, and dressed it: and they called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying: O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered: and they leaped over the altar that they had made.27 And when it was now noon, Elias jested at them, saying: Cry with a louder voice: for he is a God, and perhaps he is talking, or is in an inn, or on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep, and must be awaked.28 So they cried with a loud voice, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till they were all covered with blood.29 And after midday was past, and while they were prophesying, the time was come of offering sacrifice, and there was no voice heard, nor did any one answer, nor regard them as they prayed:30 Elias said to all the people: Come ye unto me. And the people coming near unto him, he repaired the altar of the Lord, that was broken down:31 And he took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying: Israel shall be thy name.32 And he built with the stones an altar to the name of the Lord: and he made a trench for water, of the breadth of two furrows round about the altar.33 And he laid the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid it upon the wood.34 And he said: Fill four buckets with water, and pour it upon the burnt offering, and upon the wood. And again he said: Do the same the second time. And when they had done it the second time, he said: Do the same also the third time. And they did so the third time.35 And the water run round about the altar, and the trench was filled with water.36 And when it was now time to offer the holocaust, Elias the prophet came near and said: O Lord God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, shew this day that thou art the God of Israel, and I thy servant, and that according to thy commandment I have done all these things.37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me: that this people may learn, that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart again.38 Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.39 And when all the people saw this, they fell on their faces, and they said: The Lord he is God, the Lord he is God.
In the time of Elijah, also, fire came down when he challenged the prophets of the heathen to light up the altar without fire. When they could not do so, he poured water three times over his victim, so that the water ran around about the altar; then he cried out, and the fire fell from the Lord from heaven and consumed the burnt offering. You are that victim. Contemplate in silence each single point. The breath of the Holy Spirit descends on you; he seems to burn you when he consumes your sins. The sacrifice that was consumed in the time of Moses was a sacrifice for sin, wherefore Moses said, as is written in the book of the Maccabees: "Because the sacrifice for sin was not to be eaten, it was consumed." Does it not seem to be consumed for you when in the sacrament of baptism the whole outer person perishes? "Our old self is crucified," the apostle exclaims. Herein, as the example of the Fathers teaches us, the Egyptian is swallowed up—the Hebrew arises renewed by the Holy Spirit, as he also crossed the Red Sea dry shod—where our fathers were baptized in the cloud and in the sea.
Responsorial Psalm — Psalm 16:1b-2ab, 4, 5ab and 8, 11
Ps 15:1-2
The inscription of a title to David himself. Preserve me, O Lord, for I have put trust in thee.2 I have said to the Lord, thou art my God, for thou hast no need of my goods.4 Their infirmities were multiplied: afterwards they made haste. I will not gather together their meetings for blood offerings: nor will I be mindful of their names by my lips.5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: it is thou that wilt restore my inheritance to me.8 I set the Lord always in my sight: for he is at my right hand, that I be not moved.11 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt fill me with joy with thy countenance: at thy right hand are delights even to the end.
The words in [this psalm] are sung as if by the person of Christ, who although he is noble as Lord by nature and has under his feet creation as a handmaid, yet he asks to be preserved by the Father as the head of the body of the church.… He made those sanctified by the Spirit a marvel in the land—in his church—teaching them the will of the Father as an angel of mighty counsel. They hastened to hear the preaching, not through blood [sacrifices] or practices of the law to please God, but through praise and bloodless sacrifice. Nor with names that befit their former works did he say, I shall call them, that is, idolaters and polytheists and atheists; but called and holy and pious, and who have a share in the Lord. Because the latter was obedient to the Father to death—which he calls a cup—for this reason he gave him as a portion and inheritance to the Gentiles. And he binds it to him with cords—fetters of spiritual life.… He is on [the Father's] right hand in that we gain through his hands his heavenly Father as helper, and like a rod of power he has supported our weakness. Therefore he also says to him: My flesh will reside in hope. The hope, then, is that his flesh will again assume the soul that was constituted. For his soul was not left in Sheol, nor did his body see the corruption of the grave.… For these things are granted us in him as the head and firstborn of the resurrection and because we have grown rich with his poverty. And again we shall be in unfading delights, which the saints will receive on the day of his manifestation from him who is the Father's right hand.
We die not by our own choice but by necessity of nature and against our will. However, the Lord, being himself immortal yet having mortal flesh, had power, as God, to separate from his body and to take it back again, when he would.… For it was fitting that the flesh, corruptible as it was, should no longer after its own nature remain mortal, but because of the Word who had put it on, should abide incorruptible. For as he, having come in our body, was conformed to our condition, so we, receiving him, partake of the immortality that is from him.
Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.†18 For amen I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled.†19 He therefore that shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But he that shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Or, He calls the passion, and the cross, the least, which if one shall not confess openly, but be ashamed of them, he shall be least, that is, last, and as it were no man; but to him that confesses it He promises the great glory of a heavenly calling.
About CSB. A personal translation of the New Testament, rendered directly from the public-domain Greek in a literary style — not a scholarly critical edition, and not for liturgical or doctrinal authority. It is one reader's work, offered for enjoyment; where it matters, weigh it against an established translation. (Placeholder text — final wording to come.)