Where does one look to find the voice of the prophetic in our world today? Who are our prophets?
Sometimes finding the voice of the prophetic can be difficult because of competing voices. I do not believe that we can find the voice of the prophetic amid legalistic and polemical rambling. Nor can we find the prophetic voice in the arrogant tones of those who need to be right at any cost. It is difficult to find the voice of the prophetic where political and national ideologies serve as the catechism of faith.
Rather, I listen for the voice of the prophetic where I see the least among us being defended. However, I fail to find the voice of the prophetic when I hear the rights of the strong and powerful asserted over those whom we must serve in order to fulfill the teaching of Christ.
I find the voice of the prophetic in those who have no real voice of their own. Often I hear it spoken in a language other than my native tongue. I find it in the places of the unwanted where we seldom tread on foot, and there I see it personified on the faces of children and hear it in their cries for acceptance and belonging.
I hear the voice of the prophetic most clearly when it makes me uncomfortable and challenges me, rather than pandering to what I believe already. The voice of the prophetic always urges us to busy ourselves pouring out mercy and healing wounds rather than clamoring over our fears and insecurities, which only serve to alienate. The voice of the prophetic calls out for peace – it stands for gentleness and tolerance; it calls for forgiveness and forbearance. It pauses to listen to the cares and concerns of those who look toward the future of their children. The voice of the prophetic invites us to be a human family beyond nationality, ethnicity, and language. It pleads for us to end war, hunger, disease, unholy poverty, and our attitudes of inequality that make them possible.
Our prophets today are the servants of charity and healing; they take the mission of our Lord with them daily into their homes and jobs. They speak for rights more often than for what is merely right. They offer their hands to do God’s work, their lips to speak God’s words, and their lives to be a fount of God’s mercy.
The voice of our prophets today tells us that what we have was never really ours, but only ours to share.
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