Zelo zelatus sum pro Domino Deo excerituum”: I am full of zeal for the Lord God of Hosts
This motto we find around the Carmelite shield and in many other places too. It is the response of Elijah to the challenge of God when he went to Mount Horeb and God asked him what he was doing there. For many centuries this motto has been an essential part of our Carmelite life, an important statement about the meaning and purpose of our lives lived in allegiance to Jesus Christ. It is an expression of what it means for us to be living under obedience and in accordance with our commitment to Jesus following our Carmelite way. The Constitutions do not quote the motto but make the point: “From Elijah, Carmelites learn to be people of the desert, with heart undivided, standing before God and entirely dedicated to his service, uncompromising in the choice to serve God’s cause.”
A good place to begin reflecting on our zeal is the dictionary because this will tell us what zeal is and what zeal is not. “Zeal” according to COD is “an earnestness or fervour in advancing a cause or rendering a service”. Then the next word in the dictionary is “zealot”, which is “an uncompromising or extreme partisan, a fanatic”. Zealot is therefore a distorted zeal, the narrowness of the fanatics’ outlook. Of this, there has always been far too much in religion and continues to be a major cause of the conflicts in our world today. In our Christian and Carmelite zeal we must not become zealots. Rather, as Kilian Healy who was Prior General in the 1960’s put it, our zeal must be rooted in charity. We seek to bring love to those we serve, not division. We can see this in the ministry of Jesus himself. He knew well when to take a firm line, as he always did with his opponents, and when to show God’s mercy, especially when the needy sought his help. Too often, the custom of “proof texting” from the Gospels which has been common for many centuries has shown the Church quoting Jesus when he was speaking with his opponents. Often there is a different message to be heard from the merciful Jesus. We are far more aware today of the importance of the context when reading the Gospels and the importance of mercy. Jesus in his zeal for God his Father showed great flexibility, great love, to all.
We can see the same with Elijah himself, he behaved quite differently with the widow of Zarephath than with the prophets of Baal. It was his massacre of those prophets which led to the wrath of the queen, Jezebel. It was from her that Elijah fled for his life across the desert to Mount Horeb. The Biblical Elijah is different to the Carmelite Elijah. The latter arises from medieval reflections, the former from modern studies. These would suggest a rather depressed Elijah arriving on Mount Horeb to be challenged by God about his presence there. It is therefore important to recognise and perhaps encouraging for us that Elijah was responding to God out of weakness, not strength. He has run away because his enemies were seeking his life. Even so, and with the implied rebuke from God, he could still protest that he had been zealous for the Lord, the God of Hosts. To that he held firm, even in the dark times of his life. To that, God responded not in any spectacular way but with the thin small voice, the sound of sheer silence. To that voice, Elijah responded again with his zeal for God, repeating what he had said on his arrival. The Lord then answered Elijah with new instructions, above all to recruit Elisha as his disciple. Elijah threw his mantle over Elisha who became his servant. Later Elisha sought a double share of the spirit of Elijah which continues to be an important element in the Carmelite inspiration and zeal as sons of the prophets.
Kilian Healy in his book about Elijah notes that he was the man of God standing in God’s presence and filled with zeal. He refers to St Titus Brandsma “who wrote that no Carmelite should be without zeal. Carmelites must ever feel that glow of its founder’s zeal, the mark of the true follower of Elias. It burns in all Carmelite saints.”
Fr. Patrick Lombard O.Carm
