Prophetic Voice Of The Church
By Archbishop Joseph Harris
Gospel reading: Matthew 11:2-11
John in his prison had heard what Christ was doing and he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or have we got to wait for someone else?”
Jesus answered, “Go back and tell John what you hear and see; the blind see again, and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor; and happy is the man who does not lose faith in me.”
As the messengers were leaving, Jesus began to talk to the people about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the breeze? No? Then what did you go out to see? A man wearing fine clothes? Oh no, those who wear fine clothes are to be found in palaces. Then what did you go out for? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet; he is the one of whom scripture says: ‘Look I am going to send my messenger before you; he will prepare your way before you. ’I tell you solemnly, of all the children born of women, a greater than John the Baptist has never been seen; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is.”
Homily
[simpleazon-image align=”right” asin=”1616367059″ locale=”us” height=”500″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DFjomzihL.jpg” width=”364″]Up until the advent of Pope Francis on the world stage, there was a continuing debate on the reasons for so many people leaving the church. Some suggested that it is a lack of good preaching, others that people are not interested in spirituality anymore. Suddenly the Francis element seems to have worked a radical change. People now seem to have a greater interest in church. In fact there are many stories of persons returning to church and to the sacraments. What is the reason for this sudden change? I do believe that the answer is given to us in the Gospel for this weekend.
Jesus asks the Jews “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the breeze? No? Then what did you go out to see? A man wearing fine clothes? Oh no, those who wear fine clothes are to be found in palaces. Then what did you go out for? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you and much more than a prophet” The Jews were not interested in seeing reeds swaying in the wind. Nor were they interested in seeing people dressed in fine clothes. They were interested in hearing and seeing a prophet. I do believe that if people are leaving the church they are doing so because they are seeing “reeds swaying in the breeze, or people dressed in fine clothes” People do not come to the church to get the wisdom of reeds or the wisdom of people who live in palaces or are dressed in fine clothes. They come to church to get the wisdom of prophets and perhaps if there is a greater interest in church today and if people are beginning to return to the sacraments it is because in Pope Francis the church seems to have regained her prophetic voice. When the prophetic voice is silenced people drift away.
The problem of course is that when I speak of the church losing her prophetic voice, people think that I am speaking of priests brothers and women religious, and while priests, brothers and women religious do have to carry some blame, the church is not made up only of priests, brothers and women religious. We, all the baptized, are the church, and it is the church that had lost its prophetic voice. All the true prophets called the people back to God’s way. They kept God’s message alive in the hearts of the people of their time. We the church, to be prophetic, have to call the people back to God’s way, not only by what is preached in church but by the way of life of all the faithful. In other words, by the causes that we espouse, by the integrity and simplicity of our lives. This is the genius of Pope Francis. By the example of his own life, Pope Francis is calling the whole church back to the prophetic lifestyle.
The great people of our time, who have brought about change in the world, have all been prophetic voices. Ghandi with his gospel of non-violence, Martin Luther King with his struggle for equality for all God’s people, Mons Romero with his struggle for social justice, Mother Teresa with her care and concern for those dying on the streets and last but not least, Blessed John Paul II with his Gospel of LIFE. Today Pope Francis reminds us of the mercy and forgiving love of God which we are called to make present in our world. What we do need is for you and I, the Church, to espouse these causes and attitudes in our daily lives, in our homes, schools, offices and clubs. If we make a check of the causes that we have espoused over the years, you will probably find that these causes and others like them have been very low on our list of priorities. In fact they may have been just the opposite.
This weekend let us thank God for the prophetic voices in our midst. They maintain some level of sanity in our midst. Let us espouse their causes. In this way the Church will, little by little, regain her prophetic voice and then we will probably find a renewed interest in the church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, You have raised up your servant Pope Francis to remind us by his words and gestures of our need to be prophetic voices in our world today. The world does not need reeds swaying in the breeze or persons dressed in fine clothes. The world needs prophets. Help us the disciples of your son to be those prophets so that the world may come to know and accept Him and allow all it’s institutions to be guided by his love and mercy and so build the civilization of brotherhood and love. We ask this through the intercession of Mary, our mother and Jesus, your Son. Amen
