Reflection
In the Old Testament, prophets reminded the people that a response to God’s covenant love required a total conversion. They had the insight to warn of the future implications of present actions. They did not pretend that religious obligations and the call of social responsibilities were separable realities. To the Hebrew prophets God’s love was not some kind of nebulous theory. The true prophets lived on the firm foundation of God’s presence in their world. It was clear cut and direct. They offered hope based in God’s abiding love even in the darkest moments of existence.
Prayer
Oh, that all God’s people were prophets and that God’s Spirit would be on them!
Numbers 11:39
Action
People need other people to look up to, for inspiration and guidance. Who are the people in our midst who fulfill the prophetic vocation now? Can you find those insightful persons, listen to them and help to carry out their message? In what ways can you be one of them?
Suggested Reading
God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.
Romans 12:16
A true prophet is the one who is capable of crying for his people and also saying things strongly when he has to. [A prophet] is not timid, he is always like this: direct,” but full of hope.
Pope Francis
We are all at times unconscious prophets.
Charles Spurgeon
Prophets have no other purpose, no other mission except to serve God.
Joseph B. Wirthlin
Prophets are those who take life as it is and expand it. They refuse to shrink a vision of tomorrow to the boundaries of yesterday.
Joan Chittister
The truly prophetic are typically very reluctant to call themselves prophets. They know well their fear in the face of conflict and the high cost of putting themselves in the line of fire of angry officials.
Sandra Schneiders
The prophet engages in futuring fantasy. The prophet does not ask if the vision can be implemented, for questions of implementation are of no consequence until the vision can be imagined. The imagination must come before the implementation. Our culture is competent to implement almost anything and to imagine almost nothing.
Walter Bruggeman
The people who were honored in the Bible were the false prophets. It was the ones we call the prophets who were jailed and driven into the desert.
Noam Chomsky
When the words of prophets seem repetitive, that should rivet our attention.
Henry B. Eyring
We can always be sure of one thing—that the messengers of discomfort and sacrifice will be stoned and pelted by those who wish to preserve at all costs their own contentment. This is not a lesson that is confined to the Testaments.
Christopher Hitchens