Before entrusting us with a mission, the Lord prepares us, testing us with a process of purification and discernment. It is the story of the prophet Elijah that prompted the Pope, during the Mass celebrated on Friday morning 13 June in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta, to reflect on this fundamental rule of Christian life.

"In the first reading," said the Pontiff, referring to the passage from the first book of Kings (19:9, 11-16), "we heard the story of Elijah: how the Lord prepares a prophet, how he works in his heart so that this man may be faithful to his word and do what he wants".

The prophet Elijah 'was a strong person of great faith. He rebuked the people for worshipping God and worshiping idols: but if he worshipped idols, he worshipped God badly! And if they worshipped God, they worshipped idols badly!". This is why Elijah said that the people limped "with both feet", had no stability and was not firm in the faith. In his mission "he was courageous" and, in the end, he issued a challenge to the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel and defeated them. "And to finish the story he killed them all", thus putting an end to idolatry "in that part of the people of Israel". So Elijah "was happy because the strength of the Lord was with him".

However, the Pope continued, "the next day, Queen Jezebel - she was the king's wife but she was the one who ruled - threatened him and told him that she would kill him". Faced with this threat Elijah 'was so afraid that he became depressed: he left and wanted to die'. Precisely that prophet who on the previous day "had been so brave and had won" against the priests of Baal, "today is down, does not want to eat and wants to die, such was the depression he had". And all this, the Pontiff explained, "because of the threat of a woman". Therefore 'the four hundred priests of the idol Baal had not frightened him, but this woman did'.

It is a story that 'shows us how the Lord prepares' for the mission. In fact Elijah "with that depression went into the desert to die and lay down awaiting death. But the Lord calls him" and invites him to eat some bread and drink because, he tells him, "you still have a long way to go". And so Elijah "eats, drinks, but then lies down again to die. And the Lord one more time calls to him: go on, go on!".

The point is that Elijah "did not know what to do, but he felt he had to go up the mountain to find God. He was courageous and went up there, with the humility of obedience. For he was obedient". Although in a state of despondency and "with much fear", Elijah "went up the mountain to await God's message, God's revelation: he prayed, because he was good, but he did not know what would happen. He did not know, he was there and waited for the Lord'.

We read in the Old Testament: "And behold, the Lord passed by. There was a mighty, rushing wind to break the mountains and break the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind'. Elijah, the Pope commented, "realised that the Lord was not there". Scripture continues: 'After the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake'. Therefore, the Pontiff continued, Elijah "discerned that the Lord was not in the earthquake and was not in the wind". And again, the first Book of Kings recounts: 'After the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire, the whisper of a gentle breeze'. And "as he heard it, Elijah realised" that "it was the Lord passing by, he covered his face with his cloak and worshipped the Lord".

In fact, said the bishop of Rome, 'the Lord was not in the wind, the earthquake or the fire, but was in that whisper of a gentle breeze: in peace'. Or 'as the original says, a beautiful expression: the Lord was in a thread of sonorous silence'.

Elijah, therefore, 'knows how to discern where the Lord is, and the Lord prepares him with the gift of discernment'. Then he entrusts him with his mission: "You have been put to the test, you have been put to the test of depression", of being downcast, "of hunger; you have been put to the test of discernment", but now - we read in the Scripture - "return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, until you come there, you shall anoint Cazael as king over Aram. Then thou shalt anoint Ieu the son of Nimsi as king over Israel, and thou shalt anoint Ezekiel".

This is precisely the mission that awaits Elijah, the Pope explained. And the Lord sent him on that long journey to prepare him for the mission. Perhaps, one could object, it would have been "much easier to say: you were brave enough to kill those four hundred, now go and anoint this one!". Instead, 'the Lord prepares the soul, prepares the heart and prepares it in trial, prepares it in obedience, prepares it in perseverance'.

And "this is how the Christian life is," the Pontiff pointed out. In fact "when the Lord wants to give us a mission, wants to give us a job, he prepares us to do it well", just "as he prepared Elijah". What is important "is not that he met the Lord" but "all the way to the mission that the Lord entrusts". And precisely "this is the difference between the apostolic mission that the Lord gives us and a human, honest, good task". So 'when the Lord gives a mission, he always makes us enter into a process of purification, a process of discernment, a process of obedience, a process of prayer'. Thus, he reiterated, 'it is the Christian life', that is, 'fidelity to this process, to letting ourselves be led by the Lord'.

A great lesson flows from the Elijah story. The prophet 'was afraid, and this is so human', because Jezebel 'was an evil queen who killed her enemies'. Elijah "is afraid, but the Lord is more powerful" and makes him realise that he "needs the Lord's help in preparing for the mission". So Elijah "walks, obeys, suffers, discerns, prays and finds the Lord". Pope Francis concluded with a prayer: "May the Lord give us the grace to allow ourselves to be prepared every day in the journey of our lives, so that we may bear witness to the salvation of Jesus."

[Pope Francis, St. Martha, in L'Osservatore Romano 14/06/2014]