Who, me? A prophet?

 Homily: 15^th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle B

         Fr. Ronald Knott is a priest on the staff of Saint Meinrad Seminary where I received my formation for the priesthood.  A priest of the Archdiocese of Louisville, Fr. Ronald celebrated the 51^st anniversary of his ordination earlier this year.  He is well known for his work in the field of ongoing education of priests, both here in the United States and in other countries as well.  Yet, he’s done so much more.  Before his work of teaching and forming seminarians for the priesthood, he directed and guided the discernment of seminarians for his own Archdiocese as its Vocations Director.  Before that, he led a multi-year, multi-million dollar revitalization program for the cathedral parish of his Archdiocese, which included not only a renovation of the cathedral church, but also generated projects to revitalize the surrounding neighborhood in downtown Louisville.  Before that, he worked in the home missions in poor, rural Kentucky, building a sturdy parish family from only four or five Catholics who lived in the county when he arrived.  Without doubt, in his more-than-51 years of priesthood, Fr. Ronald has made a positive impact on both his home Archdiocese and on priests throughout this country and the world.

         Yet, one might have never suspected such things from the young man who, by his own report, was so afraid to speak in front of people that he once hid on a fire escape to avoid a presentation he was expected to make.  No, even though now he can be a bit gregarious, he does not fit the mold of the charismatic prophet, such as we might find on Sunday morning Tele-evangelist programs.

         The prophet Amos was not your typical prophet, either.  In ancient Palestine, where the prophet Amos lived, there were guilds of “professional” prophets, who were skilled at interpreting the Scriptures in the light of current events and, thus, “forecasting” whether God would support a certain course of action (thus, ensuring success) or if he would resist that course of action (thus, ensuring failure).  These were not “soothsayers” or “psychic mediums” purporting to see into the future, but rather individuals—often employed by kings—who were skilled in discerning what the response of God would be to current events.  “Professional” prophets were not unlike the “political advisors” who are employed by public officials today.  Therefore, although it may sound quite odd to us, back then it was a legitimate way to make a living: like being a member of one of the professional guilds of skilled labor that exist today.

         The hazard of this profession, however, was that the only way to know if your prophecy was true was to wait and see what happened.  Thus, if a certain employer was anxious about the potential negative consequences of a certain situation, he might take offense at a prophet that comes to tell him that what he fears is the likely course of events.  Because of this, prophets were often tempted to compromise their professional integrity by telling their employer what they wanted to hear instead of what they discerned the true response to be.

         The prophet Amos was not a professional prophet, however.  Rather, God called Amos from his work tending sheep and dressing sycamore trees to go into the Northern Kingdom of Israel (from his home in the Southern Kingdom of Judah) to prophesy that God was angry with them and that he would soon punish them for their unfaithfulness to God.  Needless to say, this message wasn’t received well in those northern states.  The reading tells us that Amaziah—who was a priest and, thus, who should have known better—attempted to send Amos away, because he didn’t want to hear the message from God that Amos came to bring.  This priest accused Amos of trying to swindle his way into being paid for his prophecy, to which Amos responded: “I’m no prophet.  I’m a shepherd called by God to bring you this word.  If you don’t like it, take it up with God.  I am only responding to what God has called me to do.”  Once Amos responded in this way, Amaziah, the priest, couldn’t escape the fact that Amos had nothing to gain by making this prophecy and thus that his prophecy truly must have come from God.

         In the Gospel reading, we heard of a similar type of call.  We heard how Christ called the twelve apostles and sent them out to preach his message.  Certainly, these were no guild prophets.  Rather, they were fishermen, political extremists, and tax collectors.   Nevertheless, Jesus sent them anyway.  When he did, he instructed them to take only the barest of necessities: the tunic they were wearing, a walking stick, and sandals.  For the rest, they were to rely on whatever was shared with them by those who received the message they were bringing.  He did this so that the people would know that they were not professional prophets.  Like Amos before them and Fr. Ronald in our own day, these men were not what the people expected a prophet to be.  The irony is that this made them all the more trustworthy to those who were truly anticipating the coming of the Messiah: for they had nothing to gain by their prophecy.  Therefore, their message could be received without suspicion.

         My brothers and sisters, God has not stopped calling prophets to carry his messages to his people.  Moreover, he certainly hasn’t limited his gift of prophecy to his ordained ministers.  Rather, he continues to call the unassuming: the bank clerk, the insurance broker, the waitress, the hog farmer, and the feed corn supplier—and he continues to send us out to bring his message to his people.  How we realize that ministry in our lives and as a faith community takes prayer and discernment—both individually and collectively—but make no mistake, by virtue of our baptism, we are all called.

         To respond, of course, is not always easy.  Rather, it takes an act of faith to respond to this call.  Nevertheless, as the prophet Amos, the twelve apostles, and Fr. Ronald has shown us, you don’t have to be a professional prophet to go.  You only need a willingness to do God’s will and the trust that God has provided the message.

         Thankfully, we have the Eucharist—God’s presence among us—to nourish us and strengthen us for this holy work.  Therefore, on this Lord’s day, let us again ask the Holy Spirit to show us one way that, this week, we can proclaim God’s call to repentance both in our words and in our actions.  May the grace that we receive here today free us from whatever fears that detain us from engaging this holy work; and may it strengthen us to carry this Good News to those to whom God has sent us.

Given in Spanish at Saint Paul Parish: Marion, IN – July 10^th, 2021