Yesterday we honoured the birth of an awkward and stimulating at the same time personality: John the Baptist. That’s why he was a prophet. However he was not setting an office to offer future reading to his clients. A prophet is the person who senses the God’s plan in the world and who unwraps and announces the will of God, the irrevocable influx of grace. A prophet’s message is like a pebble in the shoe. It is impossible to miss it. The young man from today’s first reading whose name was Jeremiah was such a pebble. He was uncomfortable even to his own friends and relations. He made a bitter acknowledgement: “Those who used to be my friends watched for my downfall.”
My Dear Sisters and Brothers!
As we listen to the great prophets of the Bible let us also remember that by virtue of our own baptism we are anointed prophets, priests and kings. With that anointing at the baptism we are also given the Good News, the divine message.
Firstly the message is given to us to transform us into the message. Our Blessed Lord doesn’t want us to distribute anonymous flyers with his message. On the contrary he calls us “to declare ourselves for him in the presence of the people.” A prophet doesn’t deliver the message and then runs away. A prophet lives the message.
Secondly the message is given to us to be shared personally with others: “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the daylight; what you hear in the whispers, proclaim from the housetops” said Jesus.
That’s why someone said that there are two ways to do away with prophets. The first way is to tame the prophet. Such a prophet is not a pebble in the shoe anymore because what they say and the way they live doesn’t pose any challenge to anyone. The second way to do away with a prophet is to kill them: physically, emotionally or socially. The most common way is to call them mad. However it is nothing new. The Hebrew word for prophet has the implication of madman. However when for some centuries leading up to the time of Jesus those mad people ceased to appear in the midst of Israel people became uneasy. They had the Bible. They had their prayers and sacrifices in the Jerusalem Temple but they were missing the voice of God resonating through the prophets.
My Dear Fellow believers! Or maybe I should say: My Dear Fellow prophets. Please do not get tamed. Preserve the taste of the Gospel by believing and living it to such extent that your very presence in the midst of the society speaks about God. If you are afraid that because of the faith in Christ and surrendering your life to the Lord you are seen as an annoying pebble in the shoe invest more in learning and living your Christian faith. Don’t wait for an angel to give you clever answers to silence your opponents but deepen your faith by loving what you learn. That prophetic knowledge doesn’t come magically but comes from a committed and constant study, reflection and prayer. Turn to your favourite saints not only to ask them for favours but to learn from their holy experience. Most of those saints have left us a considerable reading material. It is a reach mine of precious germs for us though for some those germens will be annoying pebbles. Finally I would like to encourage you to read regularly the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In that book we can find the richness of the lived faith of many generations of people who didn’t get tamed. They were true prophets. To some mad, to God his messengers.
My Dear Sisters and Brothers!
As we listen to the great prophets of the Bible let us also remember that by virtue of our own baptism we are anointed prophets, priests and kings. With that anointing at the baptism we are also given the Good News, the divine message.
Firstly the message is given to us to transform us into the message. Our Blessed Lord doesn’t want us to distribute anonymous flyers with his message. On the contrary he calls us “to declare ourselves for him in the presence of the people.” A prophet doesn’t deliver the message and then runs away. A prophet lives the message.
Secondly the message is given to us to be shared personally with others: “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the daylight; what you hear in the whispers, proclaim from the housetops” said Jesus.
That’s why someone said that there are two ways to do away with prophets. The first way is to tame the prophet. Such a prophet is not a pebble in the shoe anymore because what they say and the way they live doesn’t pose any challenge to anyone. The second way to do away with a prophet is to kill them: physically, emotionally or socially. The most common way is to call them mad. However it is nothing new. The Hebrew word for prophet has the implication of madman. However when for some centuries leading up to the time of Jesus those mad people ceased to appear in the midst of Israel people became uneasy. They had the Bible. They had their prayers and sacrifices in the Jerusalem Temple but they were missing the voice of God resonating through the prophets.
My Dear Fellow believers! Or maybe I should say: My Dear Fellow prophets. Please do not get tamed. Preserve the taste of the Gospel by believing and living it to such extent that your very presence in the midst of the society speaks about God. If you are afraid that because of the faith in Christ and surrendering your life to the Lord you are seen as an annoying pebble in the shoe invest more in learning and living your Christian faith. Don’t wait for an angel to give you clever answers to silence your opponents but deepen your faith by loving what you learn. That prophetic knowledge doesn’t come magically but comes from a committed and constant study, reflection and prayer. Turn to your favourite saints not only to ask them for favours but to learn from their holy experience. Most of those saints have left us a considerable reading material. It is a reach mine of precious germs for us though for some those germens will be annoying pebbles. Finally I would like to encourage you to read regularly the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In that book we can find the richness of the lived faith of many generations of people who didn’t get tamed. They were true prophets. To some mad, to God his messengers.
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