In the previous two chapters of Matthew’s gospel we hear about nine powerful miracles. Today as we begin chapter ten, Jesus sends out his disciples to be prophets to the Jews. Having witnessed these nine miracles, he now expects them to share a new way of living for God’s people. They were called prophets because they were recognized as being able to speak God’s words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
You may be saying to yourself that it’s too bad we don’t have these prophets today. That fact is, they are all around us today. A prophet is nothing more than someone through whom the Holy Spirit speaks. You may even be one ! Think about it !
When your spouse encourages you to keep up your prayer time, he or she may be speaking prophetically or a child coming to you at night might be bearing a prophetic message. Time to deny yourself, take up your cross and care for this little one even if you are tired. You may be a prophet when you tell a coworker about God working in your life.
God is always speaking to us and He’a trying to get us to realize we have a prophetic vocation in Christ by virtue of our Baptism. Prophets are all around us, even in those we least expect !
DeColores, Deacon Doug