Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time 'B'

Saturday January 28, 2006

Is There A Prophet in Your Life?

Over the past few weeks I have had the occasion to be engaged in several conversations dealing with the notion of conversion.

Whenever that term is used, we tend to think in terms of religious conversion from one religion to another. Roman Catholics refer to those who have joined the Catholic Church from as converts.

However, in recent years, we have become more aware conversion even for ‘cradle Catholics.’

Last Wednesday, I shared this homey anecdote with our morning worshippers. Back in the fifties it was customary for Catholic high schools to provide opportunities for third year students to attend a vocation rally that today might be called a ministry fair. During these ‘convocations,’ priests and religious would speak about their own religious vocation with the hope that their stories might spark or peak the interest of the young men and women toward the possibility of a religious vocation.

In any event, on one occasion the priest chaplain at Bayley Ellard approached the school principal for permission to speak to us about the priesthood. She was a formidable woman and with an exaggerated Bostonian accent responded, “Glory be to God, Father, these boys are in the process of convirsion!” (Spelling deliberate for the sake of emphasis!)

Of course, she was absolutely correct. We were hardly prepared to make a decision for Christ much less a decision for the priesthood! At that point, we had more deviltry in us than virtue. Some of our teachers were ready to call an exorcist!

However, five out of our class of 85 eventually got the word, entered seminary and were ordained to the priesthood, one of whom later experienced another call to marriage and today is the father of two, a full-time counselor and a very active member of his parish community.

God reveals himself in stages and only over time do we get it right.

I’m quite convinced that the Spirit is calling many more to the priesthood than the institutional Church is acknowledging at the moment.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church has this to say about prophets and prophecy: “Through the prophets, God forms his people in the hope of salvation in the expectation of a new and everlasting Covenant intended for all, to be written on their hearts. The prophets proclaim a radical redemption of the People of God, purification from all their infidelities, a salvation that will include all the nations. Above all, the poor and humble of the Lord will bear this hope. Such holy women as Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Judith and Esther kept alive the hope of Israel’s salvation.” [Chap 2, n 64] It’s interesting that the Catechisms name only women as “holy examples” rather than all the ‘name brands’ such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel.

We experience many conversions in life some more dramatic than others, most of which are triggered by an official or unofficial prophet.

The ‘official prophets’ are those who speak with the authority of a legitimate church or religious body. Catholics might surely list among them figures such as John Paul II and now Benedict XVI or the Dali Lama. But there are other official prophets within the ranks of Church officials – even some bishops such as Tom Gumbleton who has frequently stepped out of the ranks to challenge both his colleague bishops as well as Catholics at large, indeed, citizens at large to a more consistent application of the Gospel of life to war and capital punishment and now most recently to the issue of greater integrity in dealing with victims of sexual abuse.

But there is a host of other prophets and prophetesses who although they may not speak with the authority of a religious institution, nevertheless speak with authority. They are worthy of our attention. Some of these men and women are members of a religious community or institute though they may not speak for that community. I would cite among the more prominent religious, Benedictine from Erie, Joan Chittister – well known as an irritant to those of a more conservative persuasion. Lay biblical scholar and author, Timothy Luke Johnson, is a moderate prophet who has used his intellectual skills to bring more balance to theological discussion among his peers. Priest and moral theologian, Charles Curran must surely be listed among the most well known prophets in both the Catholic and Protestant traditions and has caused no little unrest among Vatican officials.

Even pastors and preachers can be prophetic!

Politicians – congressman among them—can serve as prophets in the great Mosaic tradition. However few and far between, they are the ones who stand tall not only as statesperson but as men and woman of the highest moral caliber in a wasteland of moral compromise and ineptitude. I’m not referring to those who use their office to evangelize or who on the other hand use their religion as a subtle obstacle to suppress the free exercise of religion by those who differ from their doctrine.

But there are still more unofficial prophets among us – editors, columnists, reporters, sociologists, human rights activists, physicians, attorneys, counselors, college professors, high school teachers, and of course, seasoned grandparents of every persuasion.

Rarely are prophets politically correct. Indeed, they may not always be correct in their interpretation of present or future events and they surely are not immune from criticism from either side of the aisle or either side of the Church. In fact, criticism is often characteristic of their career and a validation of their call.

Prophets get us to think and to do our homework. They do not think for us or tell what to think. Decisions were made in our home around the table not in the rectory, not in the classroom and not even in the Pope’s palace. My mother was quite opinionated and even prophetic at times, but she didn’t tell her children how to think or what to think.

Prophets prick our consciences and call attention to the moral aspect of every issue be it political, social or institutionally religious. They challenge our integrity and they demand our attention. They may get under our skin but ultimately, they direct our attention to what is noble and good and therefore ultimately righteous for us as individuals and as a nation but one person’s prophet may be another person’s poison!

Moses was a prophet. Paul was a prophet and of course, Jesus was the Prophet of prophets and they truly fit the mold to a ‘T.’

In a recent review by Edward T. Oakes, of “Reason and the Reasons of Faith,” a book edited by Paul J. Griffiths and Reinhold Hutter, I came upon this salient quote:

“There will [also] come a time, as Pascal said, when reason’s last step will be to admit its limits – and then to link up with faith to give the true and best answer to the human dilemma: ‘Men despise religion,’ he said. ‘They hate it and are afraid it may be true. The cure for this is first to show that religion is not contrary to reason, but worthy of reverence and respected. Next, make it attractive, make good men wish it were true, and then show that it is. Worthy of reverence because it really understands human nature. Attractive because it promise true good.’”

Amen!

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