The Greatest Prophet: Daily Mass Homily--Monday, April 22nd, 2013

           When we first think of the prophets, we often picture the men of the Old Testament that proclaimed God’s Word to the Israelites. 

Yet we must not forget who the greatest prophet of all is—Jesus Christ.  In fulfilling his Father’s will, Christ lived as priest, prophet and king.  It seems we easily imagine Jesus as a priest and Jesus as the King of kings, but he is in fact a prophet—one who preach God’s Word to people and challenge them to grow closer to Him.

One of Jesus’ prophecies is fulfilled today.  In the Gospel he says, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.  These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.”  In Acts of the Apostles Peter is told to kill and eat a number of animals he sees in a vision.  Peter responds that he cannot because he is faithful to the Jewish Law.  Yet the meaning of this vision is not that Peter can eat a lizard, (though I am glad we Christians get to eat bacon) but that he is to go to the Gentiles—those non-Jews who were considered unclean.

This is great news for us, and is the reason why we sit in a Catholic Church this morning.  Fr. Rich excluded, I don’t think anyone else here has Jewish descent—thus we would have been considered Gentiles, the unclean, under Jewish law.

We thank God this morning for Jesus’ teaching to bring God’s entire flock to Him.

(At CSS I added:)

            I hear there have been efforts made to dialogue about our faith from various students on campus.  This is a great blessing—something that did not occur when I was a student.

            In such discussion we must remember the basics of why we are Catholic.  And it all starts with what C.S. Lewis describes in his book Miracles, “The Grand Miracle” of the incarnation.  We believe that God became a man.  And not only this, but the bookend to this miracle is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

            We must remember these because if they are true, we can trust in the Church Christ established.  Indeed, it is a far greater feat for God to become a man and then rise again, than for Him to establish a Church on earth and guide it to this day.  Thus we can dive headfirst into the Church’s teachings on morality and social doctrine. 

            We too are called to be prophets of the Good News of Jesus Christ which feature the incarnation and resurrection.  We are to go out into the world to bring many more sheep into Christ’s flock.