Are you a prophet? 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, B

Painting by Jean II Restout

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/

“Are you a prophet?”  If someone just came up to you and asked you that, how would you answer?  Are you a prophet?  My first reaction most days would honestly be, “No, I think you’ve got the wrong guy.”  I think when we hear the term prophet, we have the image of someone eccentric, a little crazy, foretelling the future and acting a little socially unacceptable.  So we’ll be prone to say, “No, I’m not that person!”

But I’d like to challenge us to think a little more about this.  In our first reading, we see how 70 elders of the Israelites receive the Holy Spirit and begin to prophesy, and two other elders, who didn’t come for whatever reason, receive the Spirit as well.  When challenged by Joshua to stop them, Moses responds, “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!  Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!”  Think to about 1,300 years later, when the Holy Spirit descends on about 120 people gathered in the Upper Room at Pentecost, and then consider the thousands of people who received the Holy Spirit through baptism and the laying on of hands in those first couple of years.  What Moses desired came true through Pentecost; the Lord bestowed His spirit upon all people: men and women, young and old, Jew and Gentile.  Now nearly 2,000 years later, we share in this same Spirit by baptism and confirmation!  So if we’ve received the Holy Spirit, are we prophets?

This requires a broadening of our common understanding of prophecy.  When we hear this term, we may only think of foretelling the future, such as if I were to say that the Nebraska Cornhuskers will win the national football championship this year.  Of course, it would be absurd for me to say this – they’ll do it in three years instead.   We know that this can be a special gift of the Holy Spirit to predict the future, but prophecy in Christ is much broader: it is sharing the truth that God wants to communicate and living as a witness to the Gospel. 

So in Christ, we can be prophets, and the Church has affirmed this many times.  St. John Paul II once wrote: “Through the lay faithful’s participation in the prophetic mission of Christ, ‘who proclaimed the kingdom of his Father by the testimony of his life and by the power of his word,’ they are given - we are given - the ability and responsibility to accept the gospel in faith and to proclaim it in word and deed, without hesitating to courageously identify and denounce evil” (Christifideles Laici 14).  When we receive the Holy Spirit in baptism and confirmation, we are given spiritual gifts to participate in this prophetic mission.

When I consider my own life, I see how many people have spoken the Lord’s truth to me as teachers, mentors, and friends.  There are many moments in which someone has said something to me that really affected my thinking and actions, helping me to come closer to the Lord and understand what He wants of me.  I think especially of conversations I’ve had with my parents over the past few years; sometimes when I’m needing encouragement, my parents know exactly what to say to remind me of who I am and the gifts God pours out.  I think they’re acting like prophets in these cases, sharing the truth of God in my own life. 

A particular way that we can live this prophetic mission is to be encouraging to others.  One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is courage or fortitude.  Courage does not mean the absence of fear; it means standing firm in the midst of fear and deciding to act for truth and love.  Think of how often you’ve been encouraged by others in your life to help you become who you are today.  And it can come in simple actions: Jesus himself says in today’s Gospel: “Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will surely not lose his reward.”  When we encourage others, we share with them this gift of the Holy Spirit: we can speak words or perform actions that express the truth of who they are in God.

But we know that it’s not always easy to do this: sometimes, as Jesus also says, there are things we need to cut out of our lives in order to live in his mission  Are there distractions in our life that keep us from listening to the Holy Spirit?  If we are not spending time in prayer each day listening to the Lord, then how could we live prophetically?  I’ve found that when I spend a few minutes in silent prayer each day, listening to the Lord in the Scriptures, I am better able to speak this truth with others.  Also, whenever I find myself in difficult conversations or don’t know how to encourage someone, I’ll quickly pray in my heart, “Come, Holy Spirit,” and it’s amazing to receive the inspiration and strength I need to speak in love. 

Or maybe there’s some fear or resistance you have to this.  What if we’re afraid of being wrong or seeming weird to others?  But be assured that God wants for each of us to live in freedom and grace and that the Holy Spirit brings joy to those who live in Him.  Sometimes the fear we feel is from Satan trying to keep us from living in the truth; will we rebuke Satan and ask Jesus to pour out his grace to assist us?

Finally, there’s the question of time: are we willing to be inconvenienced in order to encourage others?  Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our activities and schedule that it’s easy to ignore when others might need our help.  I recently heard a friend describe an experience she had at work: she saw someone whom she hadn’t seen before, and instead of proceeding to her office, she decided to talk with this woman, who turned out to be having a rough time.  My friend encouraged her and reminded her of God’s love, knowing that even though there were other things to do, that this was important.  In response, this woman was very thankful, saying that this really helped her be at peace.  Are we willing to take the little extra effort or time to let the Holy Spirit work in our lives?

In all of this, we recognize how the Holy Spirit lives in us and desires to spread His grace to those around us.  We all have God’s Spirit in our hearts, and today at Mass, we give the Holy Spirit permission to lead us as messengers of encouragement.  Pray about this: who in particular might the Lord want you to encourage in this next week?  Imagine what could happen if we all lived this out, how our parish and community would be affected.  So we pray, “Come Holy Spirit and fill our hearts.  Encourage us, so that we may encourage our world to live in your love.”