Pope: A prophet “reads” the present, but not like news

Pope Francis says that prophets (and all of us have this mission by baptism) shed the light of God on the present moment.

Pope Francis reflected this July 2 on our baptismal call to be prophets.

“Each one of us, brothers and sisters, is a prophet. In fact, with Baptism, all of us received the gift of the prophetic mission (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1268),” he said, before praying the midday Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

The Holy Father then explained a way to understand what a prophet it:

A prophet is the one who, by virtue of Baptism, helps others read the present under the action of the Holy Spirit. This is very important: to read the present not like news, no … to read it as enlightened and under the action of the Holy Spirit, who helps to understand God’s plans and correspond to them.

“A prophet is a living sign who points God out to others. A prophet is a reflection of Christ’s light on the path of the brothers and sisters,” he added.

This led the Pope to suggest some questions we should ask ourselves:

Do I — each one of us –do I, who am “a prophet by election” through Baptism, do I speak, and above all, do I live as a witness of Jesus?
Do I bring a little bit of his light into the life of another person?
Do I evaluate myself on this?
I ask myself: What is my bearing witness like, what is my prophecy like?

From here, Pope Francis drew out another lesson. The Gospel asks us to welcome prophets — that is, to welcome each other “as bearers of God’s message.”

“The Spirit has distributed gifts of prophecy in the holy People of God. This is why it is good to listen to everyone,” he said.

“Let us reflect on how many conflicts could be avoided and resolved in this way, listening to others with the sincere desire to understand each other,” the Pope said.

And he invited us to ask a few more questions of ourselves:

Do I know how to welcome my brothers and sisters as prophetic gifts?
Do I believe that I need them?
Do I listen to them respectfully, with the desire to learn? Because each of us needs to learn from others. Each of us needs to learn from others.

“May Mary, Queen of Prophets, help us see and welcome the good that the Spirit has sown in others,” the Pope prayed.