Elija Mission

Rev 11:19;12:1,10

God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. Read More

In Biblical Meditations

Memorial of Saint Scholastica: The primacy of contemplation

Elija10th February 20269th February 2026

Lk 10:38-42

‘In the course of their journey he came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord’s feet and listened to him speaking. Now Martha, who was distracted with all the serving, came to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me. ‘But the Lord answered, ‘Martha, Martha,’ he said, ‘you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her.’

In Biblical Meditations

Salt of the earth, light of the world

Elija9th February 20268th February 2026

Note: According to the traditional liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of Saint Cyril of Alexandria. In his honour, the following Gospel is read, which we will meditate on today.

Mt 5:13-16

You are salt for the earth. But if salt loses its taste, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing, and can only be thrown out to be trampled under people’s feet. You are light for the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine in people’s sight, so that, seeing your good works, they may give praise to your Father in heaven.

In Biblical Meditations

The fruit of God’s Word

Elija8th February 20266th February 2026

Note: According to the traditional liturgical calendar, today is Sexagesima Sunday, in preparation for the imminent beginning of Lent. We will reflect on the Gospel chosen by the Church for this occasion. Those who would prefer a meditation on the reading or the Gospel according to the new liturgical calendar can find the corresponding links at the end of the text.

Lk 8:4-15

When a great crowd came together and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a hundredfold.”

In Reflexion

Saint Theodore of Heraclea: the Dragon Slayer

Elija7th February 20265th February 2026

How rich are the stories of the saints, which introduce us to people who lived their faith to the utmost and followed Our Lord with total conviction! Undoubtedly, many of them show us a radicalism that could frighten us. As Saint Francis de Sales said, some saints are more to be admired than imitated. However, there is something we must always keep in mind—and something each of them would attest to: it was the grace of our Heavenly Father that enabled them to do extraordinary things. Whether they were tireless missionaries who spared no effort to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth, saints who practiced works of mercy to the point of total self‑denial, or monks who lived the monastic life with great discipline and asceticism and contributed to the building up of the Church.

But we cannot forget the many others who, in a more discreet but no less fruitful way, served God in the heroic fulfillment of their duties. It was always the holy presence of the Lord that shaped and sanctified them. In this sense, the life of each saint is also a message from Christ addressed to us, exhorting us to follow the path that God has laid out for us and encouraging us to respond to the universal call to holiness.

In Biblical Meditations

The victory of faith and love

Elija6th February 20264th February 2026

The Church is rich in missionaries and martyrs in whom the victory of faith and love was accomplished. This is true of the Japanese blood witnesses Paul Miki and his companions, whose memorial day we celebrate today.

In 1542-1543 the Portuguese had discovered Japan and in 1549 St. Francis Xavier had begun his missionary work there. Thus, in 1590 there were approximately half a million Christians in Japan.

The initially tolerant Japanese ruler increasingly turned against Christianity and in 1596 arrested twenty-six Christians in Osaka: 3 Japanese Jesuits, 6 Spanish Franciscans, among them Peter Baptist, and 17 Japanese Franciscan Tertiaries, i.e. lay people who belonged to the Third Order of St. Francis, including 3 altar boys aged 12 to 14.

In Reflexion

“Bravery and Spirit of fortitude” St. Agatha (+ 251 under emperor Decius)

Elija5th February 20262nd February 2026

Today we meet again a young saint, who, under terrible persecution, became a martyr for the love of Christ. In St. Agatha we discovere a loving soul, as well as in St. Agnes, whom we recently commemorated. They, having put into practice the words of today’s Gospel, are a model for us in following our Lord.

Since the saints are not only there for us to admire and invoke, but also to imitate, we can ask ourselves: What could a burning love like hers work in me? I do not mean that each of us should feel the longing to suffer martyrdom for Christ and to endure tortures like those of St. Agnes and St. Agatha. But each one of us must be filled with that same spirit in which God glorifies Himself and also grants us the strength for martyrdom. It is the virtue of bravery and, even more so, the spirit of fortitude.

In Reflexion

Saint Joseph of Leonisa and the unconditional response to God’s call

Elija4th February 20263rd February 2026

The life of today’s saint shows how many obstacles are sometimes placed in the way of those destined for a great mission by God. In the story we will hear today, it was not so much external enemies — although these also joined in later — but rather his own family who resisted. Such resistance can be even more challenging to confront, given that these are people with whom one has grown up and is bound by blood or friendship, yet who oppose God’s plans due to their lack of comprehension. This was the case with Saint Joseph of Leonisa in the 16th century.

His family had high expectations for the brilliant career the young man could achieve in the world. His marriage to a noble lady of extraordinary beauty and great fortune had already been arranged. However, Joseph fled his father’s house and requested admission to the Capuchins in Assisi, the birthplace of St Francis. But even in the convent, where the young man had begun his novitiate, his relatives did not give him any respite.

In Biblical Meditations

MEMORIAL OF SAINT BLAISE: “Consolations and tribulations under the gaze of the Father”

Elija3rd February 20262nd February 2026

Today we celebrate the memorial of Saint Blaise, bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, who performed great miracles and suffered martyrdom in the year 316. In his honor, we will hear the reading from the second Mass for a martyr and bishop in the traditional rite.

2 Cor 1:3–7

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

In Biblical Meditations

A light of revelation for the gentiles and glory for your people Israel

Elija2nd February 202631st January 2026

Lk 2:22-40

And when the day came for them to be purified in keeping with the Law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord- observing what is written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord- and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is prescribed in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to the restoration of Israel and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord. Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said: