By Thomas Smith
Jul 14, 2008
The second way to be a Paul-Bearer during this Jubilee Year is to “increase your Prophet margins.” This weekend I gave a presentation about the Old Testaments prophets in New Jersey, and one of the most common misunderstandings that people have about the prophets is that their primary role is to simply predict future events. While this may be part of the prophet’s task, St. Paul helps us to discover, in both his words and his works, what the gift of prophesy means for the Church. Pope Benedict’s reflections on St. Paul will add to our understanding, so we will draw from those as well. Based on the Hebrew origins of the word for prophet (nabi), I define a prophet as “one who is called out to speak forth.” With that in mind, let’s look at our role as prophets in the Church today.
According to the Magisterium, all baptized believers are called to share in the prophetic ministry of Christ himself (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 783-785). At the heart of the office of a Christian prophet is to be a witness of Christ in the midst of the world. St. Paul’s modeled this for us as a courageous witness of his Lord, even though it meant persecution and suffering that few of us can even imagine. He exemplified the kind of radical witness, the prophetic courage that the world needs so desperately today. Of St. Paul’s example, Benedict XVI said, “Dear brothers and sisters, as in early times, today too Christ needs apostles ready to sacrifice themselves. He needs witnesses and martyrs like St Paul. Paul, a former violent persecutor of Christians, when he fell to the ground dazzled by the divine light on the road to Damascus, did not hesitate to change sides to the Crucified One and followed him without second thoughts. He lived and worked for Christ, for him he suffered and died. How timely his example is today!” So, the first way we can “increase our Prophet margins” is to ask for the grace to be more courageous witnesses in our culture and public discourse. We must be the champions of the civilization of love in a culture of death. I am confident this is St. Paul’s urgent prayer for our time.
The second way we can “increase our Prophet margins” during this Jubilee Year of St. Paul is to practice another facet of the prophetic office. The Apostle unfolded this reality for us in his first letter to the Corinthians.
The thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is arguably the most powerful and memorable reflection in the Pauline letters. It is his chapter on love - the pre-eminent spiritual gift. But many do not know what St. Paul recommended as the second most important gift for us to “earnestly desire” (1 Cor. 14:1). It is the gift of prophesy. For St. Paul, the role of a prophet in the Church was very different than we may imagine. According to him, we exercise the role of a prophet when we speak to the Church for her “upbuilding and encouragement and consolation” (1 Cor 14:3). It is to be a prophet of hope (the theme of this year’s encyclical letter). So the first part of the prophetic call is to be a courageous witness of Christ to the world, while the second is to carry Christ to His Bride by words and deeds that always upbuild, encourage and console. These three characteristics are at the heart of St. Paul’s transformative letters to the fledgling Christian communities of his time. Though he challenged and even rebuked them - his primary task was to build up, encourage and console. In fact, his first letter to the Corinthian church called them to not be “puffed up” with pride but rather to “build up” one another through acts of love and self-giving. In the opening verses of 2 Corinthians, he will go on to remind them that consolation is their mutual task. When a particular community was living out this prophetic call, they received his praise and encouragement. To the Thessalonians he said, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thess. 5:11).