Pick up the mantle

Great people die and pass from this world.

It is good to mourn, but it is even more important to do what we can to rise to the occasion and continue the legacy of greatness.

A great example and metaphor for this – the mourning and the continuing - can be found in today’s first reading (2 Kings 2:1, 6-14) as Elijah is taken from this world before Elisha’s eyes.

Elisha gripped his own garment and tore it in two.

Then he picked up Elijah’s mantle...

We all know people of greatness, especially people of faith, who are no longer with us and have passed from this world.

May we pick up the mantle, fulfill our responsibilities, and do the work that God calls us to do.