Modern Day Prophets
Welcome visitors…
So far, since I retired from my job as business administrator, in order to concentrate on my ministry as a deacon, I have had requests for 10 baptisms – a set of twins, a brother and a sister, 2 brothers and four others!
(One of those here at Egg Harbor in September.)
(One of those is here at Baileys Harbor next Sunday afternoon.)
(The sister and brother are here at Jacksonport at Mass next Sunday.)
Wow! Thank you, Holy Spirit. Ten new souls will soon be added to the family of God through Stella Maris parish!
Today we celebrate the14th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Ordinary Time, the longest season of the Church year is where the rubber meets the road.
For us, as followers of Jesus Christ – Ordinary time is where we testify to the truth.
We are His witnesses in the 21st Century. Here is what we know:
- Jesus came from God with many mighty deeds and wonders – in Scripture – but also in our own lives.
- Jesus was sent to save us from sin – and he did so by giving up his life for us – there is no greater love than this!
- God raised Him up from the grave – releasing him from death – a death that could not hold him.
- Jesus walked with the Apostles for 40 days after his resurrection and he walks daily with us.
- Jesus, through the Church He formed, pours forth the Holy Spirit on us and through us on the world.
- Our commission, our call is to “Go show the world the love of Jesus.
In that sense, we are prophets – modern day prophets.
I talked about Baptism earlier – and in the Sacrament of Baptism, we are anointed with Sacred Chrism – used in ancient times to anoint priests, prophets and kings.
Make no mistake – we are called to be prophets.
As prophets, most of us do not preach – at least not with words.
The preaching that we do is in the form of how we live our lives.
“Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.” 1 Implicit in this saying is the understanding that often the most powerful sermons are unspoken. When we have integrity and live consistently by God’s standards, people notice.
We can learn a lot about our mission as prophets from today’s readings.
Ezekiel was called to prophecy in the 6th Century, BCE in Babylon. He was exiled there by King Nebuchadnezzar in 597 along with most of the inhabitants in Jerusalem. Ezekiel heard God call him to take on the task of preparing his fellow countrymen for the destruction of Jerusalem. They scoffed at him until it happened - Jerusalem fell - in 587. Then Ezekiel encouraged them with the promise of salvation and a new covenant – the one that would be fulfilled by Jesus.
Ezekiel’s work was not judged by success in human terms, but by faithfulness to what God called him to do.
How about us? What is God calling us to do – in our sphere of influence (family, friends, co-workers) and in our parish?
In the end, Ezekiel’s compatriots knew that a prophet of the Lord had been among them.
St. Paul teaches us that the life of a prophet is challenging.
He speaks of a “thorn in the flesh”. Scripture scholars think that this may have been physical sickness, temptation, a handicap, or maybe even an obnoxious opponent.
Whatever it was, St. Paul prayed fervently that God would remove it from him – free him from the “thorn in the flesh”.
He prayed three times, but the “thorn” remained.
Why would God do that? There was something good that would happen with St. Paul in his mission and the “thorn” helped bring it about.
Having the “thorn” made St. Paul spiritually stronger. He became a more powerful witness.
Thus, God could say, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”
St. Paul endured weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, and in the end, gave his life for Jesus. In so doing, his witness was powerful and those who knew him knew that a prophet of the Lord had been among them.
Jesus taught in astonishing ways. He possessed wisdom beyond his years. He healed the sick, made the lame walk, and opened the eyes of the blind. Yrt those in his hometown, who knew him as a carpenter, the son of Mary, or a cousin, could not accept him as a prophet, let alone the Messiah. He was the boy next door.
“Who does he think he is?’ they asked.
How could he do all of this?
When he rose from the dead – and those witnesses who had been with him returned to Nazareth, no doubt they knew A prophet had been among them.
And the wise ones among them knew that Jesus was truly the Messiah.
Jesus taught us an important lesson – don’t think that you will win all the praises of your friends and neighbors – that is not how success is defined. Success is defined as faithfulness.
If we remain faithful to Jesus and what he taught and the teachings of the Church that he founded, we are unlikely to receive accolades from the culture in which we live.
- If we stand up for the truth that abortion takes a human life, we will be accused of taking away someone’s reproductive rights.
- If we stand up for the truth that God created us female and male, we will be accused of discrimination and hate speech.
- If we stand up for the truth that Jesus is truly present, body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist - we will be called ridiculous and fools.
Just ask Harrison Butker, placekicker for the Kansas City Chiefs. He gave a commencement speech at a Catholic college, stood up for his Catholic beliefs and was “crucified” for it on social media.
Unwilling to entertain challenging messages, those who objected to Ezekiel, and Paul and Jesus and those who object when we stand up for the Catholic Church today try to neutralize the message by attacking or devaluing the messenger. It happened back in biblical times, and it happens today.
So, what do we do as followers of Jesus Christ?
We stay close to Jesus.
We stand by the truth. Jesus is our cornerstone and on that rock we stand.
We let our lives speak the truth about the love we live – for our family, our friends, our neighbors and even those who attack and devalue us.
Jesus said, “…love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21).
Our actions will speak the truth more powerfully than our words.
Don’t be overcome with despair. Look to Jesus and live as modern day prophets.