​14TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

My dear friends in Christ,
  
When you and I were baptized, we were anointed with Sacred Chrism while the following prayer was said: “As Christ was anointed priest, prophet, and king, so may you live always as a member of His body, sharing everlasting life.” With these words, we were all given a share in the prophetic mission of Jesus, to proclaim the gospel by our thoughts, words, and deeds.

What does it mean to be prophetic? What is a prophet? A prophet is a person who speaks the truth in God’s name regardless of the consequences. The role of a prophet is not an easy one, filled with only glory and reward. All three figures in this weekends readings are challenged by the task that God has laid before them. Ezekiel is being sent to a rebellious, hard-faced, obstinate people. Saint Paul puts up with mistreatment, distress, persecutions, and difficulties. Jesus is rejected by his own countrymen, neighbourhood, and ultimately by the whole nation. A prophet goes to proclaim God’s agenda setting aside his/her own.

The challenge of the prophet is to speak the truth regardless of the consequences.  The reality is, this is no easy task with family, co-workers, friends, neighours...the very people that are closest to us and that we love and adore. Many of us place heavy stress on “acceptance”. We all want to be popular; we want to be affirmed. We want to be accepted by those around us. At times it seems that we determine our actions, not by how much they conform to what is true, right, and good, but by how much acceptance they will get for us among our peers. Because of this, we often neglect to perform those acts and say those things which are truly prophetic because we don’t want to be rejected. A prophet must learn how to deal with rejection. Ezekiel, St. Paul, and Jesus were rejected.

So what is one to do?  "Come Holy Spirit!"  Pray to the Holy Spirit to help you find the words.  Call upon the saints to intercede.  In our very secular culture we need all the help we can get.  Perhaps most important, and what required no words, is our witness, the way we live and conduct our lives.  Our witness has the power to plant seeds in hearts, seeds of truth

May God continue to bless each of you and those that you love, and I look forward to you joining me for the celebration of Mass this weekend when we will fuel up for the week ahead.  Stay cool!

Fr. Greg