{"id":53394,"date":"2025-12-11T15:28:50","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T20:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=53394"},"modified":"2025-12-14T17:30:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T22:30:49","slug":"the-baptist-and-the-two-witnesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/the-baptist-and-the-two-witnesses\/","title":{"rendered":"The Baptist and the Two Witnesses","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Elijah Taken Up in a Chariot of Fire,<\/em> by Giuseppe Angeli, c.\u20091740<\/span><\/p>\n


\nAs the prophet Elijah is taken up
\nto heaven in a fiery chariot,
\nhe bestows his cloak on the prophet Elisha,
\nhis young disciple.
\nElisha in his boldness has asked
\nfor a \u201cdouble portion\u201d
\nof Elijah\u2019s spirit. <\/strong>(cf. 2 Kings 2:9-11)<\/span><\/p>\n

In our times, every disciple of Jesus
\nis called to bear prophetic witness
\nagainst the culture of death,
\nbe it a small piece of the cloak or a large one.<\/strong>\u00a0
\n\u2014Michael D. O’Brien<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\nI<\/span> was praying before the Blessed Sacrament in my spiritual director\u2019s private chapel when words, seemingly outside of myself, rose up in my heart:<\/p>\n

I am giving you the ministry of John the Baptist.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

As I pondered what this meant, I thought of the words of the Baptist himself in the Gospel:<\/p>\n

I am the voice of one crying out in the desert,\u00a0\u2018Make straight the way of the Lord\u2019\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

The next morning, there was a knock at the rectory door, and then the secretary called for me. An elderly man stood there, his hand extended after our greeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is for you,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is a first-class relic of John the Baptist<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ultimate meaning of this would unfold in the years ahead as the exhortation of St. John Paul II to us youth in 2002 would become a central theme of this apostolate and ultimately my new vocation:<\/p>\n

\n

Dear young people, it is up to you to be the\u00a0watchmen<\/em>\u00a0of the morning who announce the coming of the sun who is the Risen Christ!<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014POPE JOHN PAUL II,\u00a0Message of the Holy Father to the Youth of the World<\/em>, XVII World Youth Day, n. 3; (cf. Is 21:11-12)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This invitation, he later noted, would be marked by the need for both faithfulness to the Holy Father and Christ\u2019s Church, and a certain martyrdom in stepping forward in a prophetic way to announce\u00a0the coming Dawn<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

The young have shown themselves to be\u00a0for Rome\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0for the Church<\/em>\u00a0a special gift of the Spirit of God\u2026 I did not hesitate to ask them to make a radical choice of faith and life and present them with a stupendous task: to become \u201cmorning watchmen\u201d at the dawn of the new millennium<\/strong>. \u2014POPE JOHN PAUL II,\u00a0Novo Millennio Inuente<\/em>, n.9<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Perhaps it is no coincidence, then, that there was a second relic enclosed with John the Baptist, that of the Polish martyr St. Hyacinth. He was known as the \u201cApostle of the North\u201d. I live in Canada\u2026 and my grandfather is Polish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was overwhelmed as I held in my hand a bone fragment of John the Baptist \u2014 the same bone that \u201cleapt\u201d in the womb of Elizabeth over the greeting of Mary. The same bone that was stretched forth to baptize Jesus, Our Saviour and Lord. The same bone that stood firm in the faith as the Baptist was beheaded at Herod\u2019s command.<\/p>\n

In today’s Gospel, we read of the coming of Elijah and how it was fulfilled, at least partially, in John the Baptist. The following is from my reflection When Elijah Returns<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

When Elijah Returns<\/h5>\n

He was one of the most influential prophets of the Old Testament. In fact, his end here on earth is nearly mythological in status since, well… he didn’t have an end.<\/p>\n

\n

As they walked on conversing, a flaming chariot and flaming horses came between them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.<\/strong> (2 Kings 2:11)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"

Elijah and Elisha, by Michael D. O’Brien<\/p><\/div>\n

Tradition teaches that Elijah was taken to “paradise” where he has been preserved from corruption, but that his role on earth has not ended.<\/p>\n

\n

You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with fiery horses. You were destined, it is written, in time to come to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD, To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons, and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob.<\/strong> (Sirach 48:9-10)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The prophet Malachi likewise echoes this theme, giving a more precise time frame:<\/p>\n

\n

Now I am sending to you Elijah the prophet, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and terrible day; He will turn the heart of fathers to their sons, and the heart of sons to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with utter destruction.<\/strong> (Mal 3:23-24)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Hence, the Israelites had a great expectation that Elijah would be a key figure who would bring about the restoration of Israel, heralding in the reign of the expected Messiah. So during Jesus’s ministry, the people often questioned whether He was in fact Elijah. And when Our Lord was crucified, the people even called out, \u201cWait, let us see if Elijah comes to save him.” [1]<\/sup><\/a>cf. Matt 27:49<\/span><\/span>