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Page 2 • Faith Today Faith Today • Page 3 Getting beyond the future By Father Alfred McBride, O.Praem. NC News Service T he future intrigues peo ple. Millions check the weather forecast to see what tomorrow’s weather will be Business people read what experts on the economy think will happen to the stock market. Some people consult fortunetellers and others go to Jim my the Greek to get a handle on the future. Religious people check out the prophets. Sometimes biblical pro phets speak about the future but they are far more than predictors of the future. True prophets have three qualities: 1. The prophet is called and em powered bv God for a special task. The Bible does not speak of self- appointed prophets. Notice how often the prophet says, “The Word of the Lord came to me.” 2. God expects the prophet to live responsibly in the present. This means that the prophet develops the ability to read the signs of the times to determine what God wants of people in the present age. Someone has said that a prophet is like a person who holds the Bi ble in one hand and the newspaper in the other. The newspaper tells him what is going on. The Bible tells him what should be going on. In a sense, the prophet hurls the Word of God into the lake of peo ple’s lives and lets the Lord’s message ripple through it. Persons called to be prophets realize that the calling is hard. They generally do not want to assume such a challenging responsibility. When God summoned Isaiah to serve as a prophet the young man objected, saying that he was a sin ful man. “Woe is me, I am doom ed. For I am a man of unclean lips'' (Isaiah 6:5). God’s response was to send an angel with a burn ing coal to purify’ Isaiah of his sinfulness. When God commanded Jeremiah to accept the calling to be a pro phet. the bashful young man com plained that he was too young and inexperienced. God told Jeremiah that he would fill him with power and courage and give him the words he needed to witness the will of the Lord 3. Prophets try to bring about a desirable future God invites them to heal the symptoms and causes of injustice. God moves them to cleanse the evil institutions of this world so that people can live in a society that is free of oppression and dehumanizing influences Jesus cleansed the temple so that the future of the house of God would be safe for prayer. Isaiah worked at purifying the monarchy of his time so that people in the future would have a just and responsible ruler. In the sacrament of confirmation, every Catholic is called by the Holy Spirit to accept the gift of being a prophet. The Spirit moves each Catholic to live responsibly today so there will be a better tomorrow. Prophecy is far more than mak ing fascinating predictions about the future. Prophecy is living morally now so that one can create a better future. Prophecy is accepting respon sibility for healing present evils so that tomorrow can be freed from such malice. The Holy Spirit offers every Catholic this gift and accom panies the offer with the love that will motivate one to face up to the challenges of the present world. Prophecy as prediction has small place in tradition. But prophecy as witness to love in action occupies a broad stage in the long history of Christianity One doesn’t have to achieve the prominence of an Isaiah. But it is essential to be aware of a personal, prophetic call to make this world a better place to live. In this sense, anyone can and should be a prophet (Father McBride is a well-known religious educator and lecturer.) Early church motivators By Father John Castelot NC News Service T he biblical account of God calling Moses to liberate his people from bondage in Egypt shows Moses wasn’t exactly thrilled. He began making all sorts of excuses, protesting that he was an inexperienced and ineffectual speaker. But God insisted: “Have you not your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know that he is an eloquent speaker...He shall speak to the peo ple for you” (Exodus 4:14, 16). Better than any definition, that account tells us that a prophet in the biblical sense is “one who speaks for God.” Whether prophets interpret current events (their usual function) or past events (as the biblical historians did), prophets ex press God’s point of view. Moses went on to speak fearless ly for God in the Egyptian situa tion. Subsequently he conveyed the divine will to the Israelites during their formative years in the desert. On the eve of the entrance into the Promised Land, Deuteronomy portrays Moses as instructing the people on what lies ahead. He tells them of the institutions which will be part of their national life. He tells them about the royalty, the priesthood and then about the institution of prophecy: “A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you from among your own kinsmen; to him you shall listen” (Deuteronomy 18:15)- In that passage, Moses is referring to a whole series of prophets who will play an important role in the lives of the Israelites. Since they were outside the establishment, prophets were a check on the power of the kings and priests and could speak out fearlessly against abuses. Often this was at the cost of much personal suffering. Especially in the writings of St. Luke, Jesus is portrayed as a pro phet. In his inaugural homily in the Nazareth synagogue, he applies to himself a text from Isaiah: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me; therefore he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor” (Luke 4:18). When the reaction of the con gregation turns hostile, Jesus remarks sadly: “No prophet gains acceptance in his native place” (Luke 4:24). This sets the tone for his whole public ministry which ends when Jesus dies an innocent prophet-martyr. When the author of Ephesians lists the various gifts of the risen Lord to his community, he men tions “prophets” right after “apostles.” For him, prophets were spokespersons for God. Their “speaking” took many forms. In the main they seem to have been especially gifted preachers, with the ability to move their audiences and motivate them for truly Christian living. A distinctive feature of the early church, prophecy did not disappear at the end of the first century. The church has a prophetic mission to speak out in God’s interests in every age. Individual Christians share in this mission when they witness to God’s truth by speaking and writing and living according to their sincere convictions. (Father Castelot is a professor of Scripture at St. John’s Seminary, Plymouth, Mich.) A test . . of your prophetability By David Gibson NC News Service I f you find it difficult to think of yourself as a prophet you’re not , alone. For me, talk about prophets immediately brings the image of John the Baptist to mind — clothed in camel’s hair, thriv ing on a diet of grasshoppers and wild honey, and calling the desert wilds his home. I admire him, but I don't see myself in that picture. Or the prophet Isaiah presents himself to my mind's eye, witft his magnificent gift of speech. T rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul; forJte has clothed me with a robe of salvation, and wrapped me in a mantle of justice, like a bridgroom adorned with a diadem, like a* bride bedecked with her jewels” (61). Any writer could only wish for words to flow so beautiful!,} . Where is your prophetic role left if you have no camel’s hair garment or if Isaiah’s unforget table way of putting things doesn’t come naturally for you? According to the Second Vatican Council, the lives of lay people do have a prophetic side. “Christ, the great prophet...con tinually fulfills his prophetic office until his full glory is revealed, tie does this not only through the hierarchy who teach in his name and with his authority, but also through the laity,” said the coun cil document on the church (No. 35). Among other things, the council encouraged lay people to look for Etching by Marvin Hayes, trom GOD’S IMAGES. Copyright 1977 by Oxmoor House,.Inc. Reproduced with permission. opportunities to carry out their prophetic role in daily social af fairs and homelife. In other words, I should try to be pro phetic at home. Right 5 But will „ my children warm to the idea? In the days of the early church, the false prophets only told peo ple what they wanted to hear r - (Gerhard Friedrich. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament). As a parent, I draw hope from « knowing that. For I'm certain my children don’t find that to be my prophetic failing As a parent, I also take comfort ~ in knowing that false prophets charged fees for their services. I don’t charge my children any fee „ for my services On the contrary, they charge me, through frequent requests for a handout. It’s also comforting to know * that forecasting the future is not a requirement for true prophets. The fact is, I can’t chart the future for my children. I have no special knowledge about how things will go for them in the decades ahead. I do have a few insights I want to n get across to them, however, about where they might look for happiness in years to come. The true prophets of history were gifted people, able to see what faith means at a given mo ment in time or in a given situa tion They could apply their faith, in other words, to the task at hand And this gift of theirs meant something for others. It not only enabled others to see the possibilities for bringing faith to bear on life; it encouraged them to act on their faith. “Talk aoout prophets brings John the Baptist to mind — clothed in camel’s hair, thriv ing on a diet of grasshoppers and wild honey....I admire him, but I don’t see myself in that picture.” With this in mind I ask myself: Is prophecy really needed at home? Certainly it is at home that one first begins not only to hear, but to see in the actions of parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and friends what the great Christian values of love and com mitment mean in practice. At home one discovers what it means to live with integrity, and is stimulated to bring the message of Jesus to bear on personal life and in the larger social sphere. It is said that false prophets were very talkative. I’ll have to think about that. My children think I have altogether too many words at times. But maybe there’s a clue here. After all, people communicate not only through words but by ac tions. Knowing that some false prophets were overtalkative leads me to ask: Are any of my actions prophetic for my children, com municating about the ways faith takes form in real life? (Gibson is editor of Faith Today.) FOOD... f “As lay people you are called to bear 1 witness to Christ within the context of your homes, neighbor hoods, towns and cities. You contribute to the church's mission first of all by showing consistency bet ween your conduct and your faith. In word and deed you must proclaim Christ the light of the world ...As laity you also have the specific task of renew ing the temporal order by permeating it with the spirit of the Gospel” (Pope John Paul II addressing the laity in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1984.) •At the age of 30, the young woman woke up one morning and realized that she couldn’t move. The illness that struck her down kept her paralyzed for 18 months. But, during that entire time, she and her husband re mained consistently cheerful and positive in outlook, confident that she would recover. •For the two and one-half years another woman’s husband lingered on after a stroke in capacitated him, she visited him every day at the nursing home. Sometimes he recognized her; more often he was incoherent or lived in the past, recalling things that happened many years earlier. Without complaint, she did what she could to help her lifetime partner, feeding him and talking to him gently. ...for discussion A pleasant message doesn’t guarantee a prophet’s authentici ty; neither does its painfulness, suggests Father Donald Talafous. What are some characteristics of true prophets? Can you think of anyone — parent, teacher, pastor, friend — who played a prophetic role in your life somehow? Who in your community serves a prophetic role? How? In Chapter 1 of Timothy’s se cond epistle, one reads: “The Spirit God has given us is not a cowardly spirit, but rather one that makes us strong, loving and wise. Therefore, never be asham ed of your testimony to the Lord...but with the strength which comes from God bear your share of the hardship which the Gospel entails.” What does this passage mean for you? ...for thought •A couple, busy parents themselves, tote their elderly parents around and include them in their plans regularly. Though the older couple is increasingly difficult to deal with, the younger couple remains faithful, trying to be loving and sym pathetic no matter how can tankerous their parents are. Those people are examples of what Father Lawrence Mick calls prophets in ordinary life. He us ed them in a recent homily on “how to see the light of Jesus shining through others.” He is pastor of St. Patrick’s Church in Glynnwood, Ohio, a rural parish of 83 families. For Father Mick, it is impor tant to be able to locate people close to home who “witness to Christ non verbally, whose ac tions speak louder than words.” “It is easy to see Christ in a Mother Teresa,” he suggests, but “too often we miss the goodness nearby.” And being able to find Christ in our families and neighbors “often fits our lives better,” Father Mick says. Such prophets “provide a model,” he adds. By their generous behavior in difficult cir cumstances, they help others to identify their own weaknesses and strengths. Such models serve as a “gentle prod” leading others to make some needed changes in their lives, says Father Mick. “The change can be subtle but still real.” SECOND HELPINGS Beyond Broken Dreams: A Scriptural Pathway to New Life, by Franciscan Sister Karen Berry. The meditations in this 62-page book are the author’s “way of charting a course through personal experiences of loss and brokenness,” writes Sister Berry. “I tried to find ways of dealing with the hurt I was feeling through the experiences of Jesus and the people who knew him.” Discussing the book with other people, Sister Berry was struck by the fact that peo ple responded to the same story in quite different ways. For in stance: “To one person, the story of the Prodigal Son tells about a parent whose ungrateful child turns away from the home that nurtured him,” she says. “To another, that same story speaks deeply of a spouse and parent who has fled the respon sibilities of marriage and family.” (St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1615 Republic St., Cincinnati, Ohio 45210. 1984. Paperback, $3.50.)
