Elijah - Greatest Hebrew Prophet

Before getting back to Mark chapter 1, note this about Elijah, who with John the Baptist was the subject of the last post:

[Elijah] is [t]raditionally held to be the greatest Hebrew prophet .... He maintained the ascendancy of the worship of Yahweh in the face of the Canaanite and Phoenician cults (I Kgs. 18) and upheld the claims of moral uprightness and social justice (I Kgs 21). With Enoch he shared the glory of not seeing death but of translation into heaven (2 Kgs. 2:1-18), and such was the impression which he made on the people that his return was held to be a necessary prelude to the deliverance and restoration of Israel (Mal. 4:5 f.) ... He is regarded with particular devotion by the Carmelites. 

Dictionary of the Christian Church (Ed. F.L. Cross and E.A. Livingston, Third Edition 1997) at 539.   

Was Elijah a saint?   Yes.  The church teaches:   "The patriarchs, prophets, and certain other Old Testament figures have always been and always will be honored as saints in all the Church's liturgical traditions." Catechism of the Catholic Church at sec. 61.    Catholics ask saints to pray for them.    I do not pray to Elijah as if he were full of power to help me apart from God.   Elijah was a man with faults, as I Kings chapter 19 makes clear, and he is now part of the church triumphant, in the presence of God.   When I pray to Elijah  I ask him to intercede to the Father on my behalf, just as I ask my friends on earth to pray for certain things.  Elijah's feast day is July 20.   Here you will find a meditation from the Carmelites for that feast day.