Acts of the Apostles. 1

June 22, 2008
12th Sunday of Ordinary Time

“Fear no one, nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that
will not be known.”

In today’s readings, God presents to us another important aspect of
discipleship and Christian ministry: the prophet office. For the last several
Sundays, we have been reflecting on different elements of discipleship.
Today’s Eucharist is no less important. But what is the prophetic office and
what does it mean to be a prophet in today’s world?

All of scripture, as related in the first reading from Jeremiah, relates to us that
a prophet is one who announces or speaks on behalf of God’s will or desire in
the face of a current event or events. A prophet proclaims the truth that
leads to conversion and reconciliation. But that call to change and
transformation is often challenging, difficult, and not well-related, as we see
evidenced in the life of Jeremiah and Jesus. If we learn anything from the
lives of the prophets, it’s that both the messenger and the message are
rejected by Israel and by the Gentile. That rejection occurs for the same
reason we are often frustrated in prayer where we ask God for something:
we ask for what we don’t really need, and God gives us what we don’t want.
Similarly, the prophets call us to that deep transformation that heals and
reconciles, but at the price of giving up our deepest desires and expectations.

There are many things that go into being a prophet, but Jesus highlights one
here: fearlessness and the courage to withstand persecution. The prophet
who is sent in the name of Jesus shares in this prophetic fearlessness, but
only to the extent that he listens to the Word of God “in secret” – this is
another way of saying a life of regular prayer and dialogue with the Word of
God. Only with this basis can we be free from fear; and we need fearlessness
– this means that we patiently help others overcome misunderstandings
regarding the faith, that we don’t give into discouragement in working to
overcome evils and injustices in society, that we speak the truth with love and
without harshness in defending the weak and the voiceless, and that we do
not buy security at the expense of dishonor.

The prophet is a person of integrity who is both committed to making real
God’s reconciling love in the face of a world that is still dominated by fleshly
power and raw injustice, and who is not given to self-righteousness – who is
able to humbly love the unlovable in one’s day-to-day experience.

Being a prophet sounds like a tall order, but it is part of our baptismal ministry
of reconciliation. In fact, it is fundamental to it. Like Jeremiah, we may not
feel up to it, but the Gospel reminds us its all God’s work, and one must simply
rely totally on Him alone. To be a prophet is to take part in God trying to
reconcile a fallen world.


-Rev. Todd Molinari
http://www.stjosephchurch.com/pastor.html