Friday, June 25, 2010

What it means to be a true prophet

Good News Reflection
Wednesday of the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time
June 23, 2010
Today's Saint: Etheldreda
Pray for true beauty from God:
http://wordbytes.org/saints/DailyPrayers/Etheldreda.htm
Today's Readings:
2 Kings 22:8-13;23:1-3
Ps 119:33-37,40
Matt 7:15-20
http://www.usccb.org/nab/062310.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/10_06_23.mp3
What it means to be a true prophet
As we read in today's Gospel passage, evil can penetrate into our lives when we make the mistake of trusting and spreading wrong messages. A true prophet is someone who runs everything by the Holy Spirit for good discernment while testing his/her accuracy with knowledge of what the Bible and the Church's teachings say about it, then speaks up. Such person is a teacher of truth, not only in word, but also in deed, for a holy life is what proves the prophet to be true.
In our baptisms, we were reborn into Christ and his three-way ministry of priest, prophet, and king. Let's consider what it means to be a prophet like Christ. Do our lives prove that we believe the truths that we profess as Christians? Do our actions and attitudes teach the truth? Or do we unknowingly accept falsehoods into our beliefs and then impart them to others by the way we fail to follow Jesus?
Perhaps we combine Christian attitudes with the contradictory mindsets of the world, and thus our example teaches others to pursue unholy goals instead of Godly ways. Or we've allowed New Age concepts or moral relativism to be woven into our Christian beliefs, thinking this to be harmless, thereby misleading not only ourselves but also others into lifestyles that are not based on Christ nor centered on Christ.
To some extent, most of us have been influenced by the notion that "if it seems right to me, I'll go ahead and do it, even if it goes against a Church teaching" (remarriage after divorce and the use of artificial contraception are two examples, because we fail to research the Church's teaching on it and therefore we fail to see the foundation of love that's in it).
Some falsehoods are so subtle that we assume they're coming from God. For example, every Christian marriage experiences heartbreak, but rather than work through the difficulties and accept each trial as a blessing of spiritual growth, more than half of couples quit, which is the same rate as non-Christians. Why? Because we've accepted the worldly belief that we're not supposed to suffer and that true love can neither endure pain nor become redemptive. What are we teaching? That the way of Christ, which includes the cross, is wrong?
With so many false teachings in our ears, how do we know the difference between what is truth and what is false? Jesus provided the answer: Look at the fruits. Does the message (or the attitude or the decision) lead us closer to God or away from him? Does it serve the kingdom of God or does it accomplish a goal of Satan?
Since love is always the core of every good fruit, we can ask: Does the message (or attitude or decision) help me to love others (ALL others) the way God has loved me?
© 2010 by Terry A. Modica
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