Elijah and the Blessed Virgin Mary

3 Kings 18:[41] And Elias (Elijah) said to Achab: Go up, eat, and drink: for there is a sound of abundance of rain. [42] Achab went up to eat and drink: and Elias went up to the top of Carmel, and casting himself down upon the earth put his face between his knees, [43] And he said to his servant: Go up, and look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said: There is nothing. And again he said to him: Return seven times. [44] And at the seventh time, behold, a little cloud arose out of the sea like a man' s foot.   (From the Douay-Rheims Bible - In The New American Bible this Scripture is in 1 Kings 18)

“Elias went to the top of Carmel…” (Our Lady of Mt. Carmel)

“a little cloud arose out of the sea…”  on the Immaculate Conception – “All Three Divine Persons competed among Themselves:  the Father poured out an immense sea of power; I, the Son, poured out an infinite sea of wisdom, and the Holy Spirit, an immense sea of eternal love, which merging into one, formed on single sea; and in the middle of this sea the conception of this Virgin was formed, elect among the elect.”

“"like a man’s foot…”  I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.  Gen. 3:15 “In the Carmelite tradition, Elijah and Mary are brought together most closely in the image of the cloud that forms over the sea.”  (From a Carmelite blog - Flos Carmeli http://floscarmeli.stblogs.org/archives/2006/03/elijah-and-mary.html)

“This means that the greatest saints, those richest in grace and virtue, will be the most assiduous in praying to the most Blessed Virgin, looking up to her as the perfect model to imitate and as a powerful helper to assist them.

I said that this will happen especially towards the end of the world, and indeed soon, because Almighty God and His holy Mother are to raise up great saints who will surpass in holiness most other saints as much as the cedars of Lebanon tower above little shrubs.  These great souls filled with grace and zeal will be chosen to oppose the enemies of God who are raging on all sides.  They will be exceptionally devoted to the Blessed Virgin.”    (“True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin”, St. Louis de Montfort)