Many prophets have come and gone. There are four major prophets of the Old Testament Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. There are all of the minor prophets and the other prophets. The final prophet of the Old Covenant was Saint John the Baptist who prepared the way for the coming of the Messiah.
Prophets are sent to speak God’s will and designs to the people of the Old Covenant, forming them in the hope of salvation. Their role is to speak God’s truth and to remind those who would hear of their covenant with God and to call them back to that covenant through repentance. Though existing prior to the coming of Christ each of them pointed the way towards the one who would come.
Through the miracle that was worked in our Gospel "they glorified God, saying: A great prophet is risen up among us, and God has visited His people.” This profession gets to the heart of what we believe for Christ is the Son of God and is the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity and is thus God Himself.
Jesus does not simply relay a message to us from God for He is the ultimate revelation of God for He is the Word who took on our human flesh and made His dwelling place here among us. He serves as the fulfillment of all prophecy for all of it pointed the way towards the one who would come, the Messiah.
From the Catechism we are told of our share in this prophetic office of Christ, “The holy People of God shares also in Christ's prophetic office," above all in the supernatural sense of faith that belongs to the whole People, lay and clergy, when it "unfailingly adheres to this faith . . . once for all delivered to the saints,” and when it deepens its understanding and becomes Christ's witness in the midst of this world.”
In other words as people of faith we must continue to bear witness to God’s truth daily. In order to accomplish this task we must live according to God’s design, we must show Jesus to others in the way in which we live and order our life, and we must help at building up the Kingdom of God here on earth through our actions.
So many act as passive spectators when it pertains to such a prophetic role. There is nothing which is passive about our faith because it is the proclamation of all that is true. Through it we are professing our salvation which should be of top importance to each of us. Let us boldly set out to profess Christ Jesus in our thoughts, words, and deeds.
“A great prophet is risen up among us, and God has visited His people.” This proclamation is of utter importance and thus we must continue to spread the Good News of this message.
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