The scene in today’s first reading is one of the most dramatic in the whole Bible.
Mount Carmel.
The prophet Elijah standing alone.
Four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal standing against him.
And Elijah asks a question that cuts straight to the heart:
“How long will you go limping between two opinions?”
In other words:
Make a decision.
If the Lord is God, follow Him.
If Baal is god, follow him.
But stop trying to do both.
That question is just as relevant today as it was on Mount Carmel.
Because most people do not reject God completely.
They simply try to keep God alongside everything else.
A little faith. A little worldliness.
A little prayer. A little self-will.
A little Gospel. A little compromise.
And Elijah says: How long can this continue?
The people of Israel wanted the blessings of the Lord,
but they also wanted the gods of their neighbours.
They wanted religion without commitment.
Faith without obedience.
And that temptation has never disappeared.
Many Catholics today would never say, “I reject God.”
But the deeper question is:
Who actually rules my life?
Who makes the decisions?
God? Or me?
When God’s commandments become inconvenient, which one wins?
When the Gospel challenges me, which voice do I follow?
Then Elijah proposes a test.
Two altars.
Two sacrifices.
And the God who answers by fire is the true God.
The prophets of Baal cry out all day.
Nothing happens.
Because false gods make promises they cannot keep.
They demand everything.
They give nothing.
And that remains true today.
Money promises happiness.
It cannot give it.
Pleasure promises fulfilment.
It cannot give it.
Success promises meaning.
It cannot give it.
Human beings keep looking for ultimate answers in things that were never meant to be God.
And they end up disappointed every time.
Then Elijah prays. No theatrics. No spectacle. Just faith.
And fire falls from heaven.
The sacrifice is consumed.
The people fall on their faces.
And they cry out: “The Lord is God! The Lord is God!”
At last they see reality clearly.
Then we come to the Gospel.
And Jesus says: “I have come not to abolish the Law but to fulfil it.”
The God who answered Elijah by fire is the same God standing before the people in Jesus Christ.
The same God who made the covenant.
The same God who spoke through the prophets.
Now present among His people in the flesh.
And Jesus does not lower the demands of holiness.
He raises them.
Because Christianity is not about doing the minimum.
It is about becoming saints.
Not merely avoiding evil,
but becoming people whose hearts belong entirely to God.
Perhaps that is the question hidden in both readings.
Not: Do I believe in God?
Most people at Mass will answer yes.
The deeper question is: Have I given God everything?
Or am I still limping between two opinions?
Trying to keep one foot in the Gospel and one foot somewhere else.
The saints understood what Israel finally realised on Mount Carmel.
There is only one God.
And if He is truly God, then He deserves everything.
Not an hour on Sunday only.
Everything.
Our minds.
Our hearts.
Our families.
Our decisions.
Our future.
Everything.
And the beautiful thing is this:
when we finally stop trying to serve two masters,
life becomes simpler.
Not easier.
But clearer.
Because the soul was made for God.
And until God is first,
nothing else ever finds its proper place.
So perhaps today we should hear Elijah’s question personally:
“How long will you go limping between two opinions?”
Because the Lord does not ask for part of our lives.
He asks for all of it.
And when a soul finally gives Him everything,
it discovers that He is more than enough.
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 