Prophets

He has spoken through the prophets.
The Nicene-Constantinople Creed
Hear the word of the Lord...listen to the instruction of our God.
Isaiah 1:10
Pop "the word of the Lord" into any of the Bible search engines now ubiquitous on the Internet and you will get pages and pages of references from Genesis 15:, "the word of the Lord came to Abram, to 1Peter 1:25, "the word of the Lord remains forever and this is the word that has been proclaimed to you...." Those two references alone represent a two thousand year stretch.


The prophets were not fortune tellers. They didn't divine the future or act as seers.  The prophets heard God speak and were compelled to proclaim the word of God to His people.  The content of the message was always the will of God, what He expected people to do, how He expected them to live their lives.  It still is.  John L. McKenzie SJ calls that word The Two Edged Sword.
The remarkable thing is God speaks to ordinary people.  Gideon plowing his field, Amos tending his sheep, Peter fishing--even Moses tending sheep--heard God speak directly to them.  His voice wasn't always that of the great and powerful. Isaiah heard it in the night and Elijah heard a still small voice.  I suspect we all could hear it if we would but listen.The 
Creed is clear on one thing, when God speaks it is the Holy Spirit that does the speaking.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I have a great fondness for anything in the Bible that seems to apply to everyone in the world, not just Catholics, Christians, or Jews. The Gospel of John mentions at the start that "Christ is the true light that enlightens EVERY man who comes into the world." I think of him as being the voice of conscience or the voice of our "best self." Whether we think of it as the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, I believe it/He is urging us toward our greatest happiness . . . our heart's desire.
5:50 PM
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