The prophet of all the prophets is the Lord Himself, for the basic role of a prophet is to be the spokesperson for God and it is only Christ who perfectly fulfills this role. Still in our reading from Deuteronomy, God tells Moses about raising up a prophet from among his own kin. When we transfer the setting from Moses to our own times we are aware that one of the effects of our baptism is that we were made members of God's family and that we were all anointed as his prophets.

So whether we like it or not, we are God's prophets in this place and at this time. We may protest that we are not the Lord, even though we now share in his life. Perhaps more importantly he has chosen to share in ours. So God has raised us up and called us to be his prophets. As such people are to listen to us.

We have good reason to be hesitant about taking on the role of spokespersons for God. Jeremiah, one of the great prophets of the Old Testament, hesitated to accept God's call to become a prophet." Ah, Lord God, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth." God replied, " Do not say I am only a youth; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go and  whatever I command you, you shall speak." God knew Jeremiah even before he was conceived; set him aside for his special mission before he was born; and appointed him for the enormous task of being prophet to all nations.

At this point we may breathe a sigh of relief, or so we think. "Thank goodness nothing like that ever happened to me." But maybe we need to think about this again. God being God, is it not true that God knew each of us even before our parents conceived us? Is it not true that God has set us aside to fulfill the mission on which he has sent us, namely to preach the Gospel to all nations, especially to the people among whom we live?

Baptism, then, is not just an occasion for taking pictures of the newest member of the family. It is a powerful Sacrament that brings about a radical change in our identity, our destination and our responsibilities. We no longer are just members of our human families, for now we belong to the family of God. Our destination is no longer to possess the goods this world offers us but to possess God Himself. Our responsibilities go beyond providing for our human family but to living faithfully the divine life with which we have been gifted.

God is love and he wishes everyone to receive his love, and we are the ones who are sent to bring the good news to others. We may protest, "I know not how to speak" but the fact is we speak to the world every day, not so much through our words as by our lives. And so we ask, does our daily life proclaim an accurate image of a God who loves us all?

Fr. Paul Rosemeyer

January 29, 2012

The Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time