You Are a Prophet

If you are baptised then you are called to be a prophet.

Yes! you, who are reading this. After you were baptised , the priest or deacon anointed you with Chrism saying these words.

“God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has freed you from sin, given you a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and welcomed you into his holy people. He now anoints you with the chrism of salvation. As Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet, and King, so may you live always as a member of his body, sharing everlasting life.”

We see clearly in the Old Testament prophets were called to announce a revealed message, on God’s behalf. A prophet today is one who reminds people of the living, life-giving word of God which has been forgotten or rejected. We see in today’s Gospel, Jesus was not received with open arms. He was amazing at their lack of faith.

How can we be effective as a prophet today? First we must be open to hear God’s word. The scriptures need to be part of our daily life. We need to be faithful in being good listeners in prayer. In the first reading today, Ezekiel received God’s spirit that enabled him to hear God’s word. We have all received that Spirit at baptism and Confirmation. It is necessary to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us to a deeper understanding of God’s word.

We also need to accept that there will be much resistance. The reason prophets were needed was that God’s people were hard-hearted and obstinate. They didn’t necessarily want to hear what God wanted to tell them. As Bishop Pilarczyk wrote

“Being a prophet can be dangerous. The prophet finds himself in the middle between the demands of God and the reactions of the people to whom he has been sent to speak… The church carried forward the prophetic mission of Ezekiel and Jesus. The church has been constituted, called and sent by God to speak God’s word to the world. And God’s word is not always easily understood. God’s word is not always easily accepted.”

We need to ask ourselves, in what ways do I reflect and proclaim the living and life giving message of Jesus? How am I prophetic in my family, in my community. What do do if I find some of the Church’s teaching difficult to receive?

“We are literally anointed to speak uneasy truths, summon our world back to uncomfortable goodness, labour for discarded beauty, and suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness.

This is the prophetic way of life. This is the way of life of the Christian believer.”