The Lord is at the door and knocking; if someone hears His voice and opens the door, He will enter ... (Rev 3:20). Yes, it is true the Lord is insistently knocking on the door of our heart. He needs prophets for our world. He needs witnesses of the truth.
I want to share with you my reflection on the Christian prophetic mission, especially the faith of youth in this 21st century. Inspired by the Lenten 2018 message of Pope Francis, he announced that "as evil grows, love will grow cold for the majority of people" (Mt 24:12). The course of our humanity goes hand in hand with the speed of progress, technology and science. This scientific and technological novelty on the one hand, highlights the intellectual progress of the human genius, but, on the other hand, there is the misuse of these new sophisticated technologies becoming a "boomerang effect" for human society.
Today, the negative-values of selfishness, lies, injustice and violence are gaining dominance and power, and when we look at life challenges, apparently the problems in different sectors of our society are increasing and give the impression that there are few opportunities. To top it off, we fall into the temptation of pessimism and fatalism, and that good is losing ground. Is the situation of our humanity so grave? Is it true that the end is near as some have said, that everything is already over; there is nothing to do and there is no longer hope? Precisely, for this reason, our prophetic mission is to live against the current of such negative-values and to commit ourselves to raising the spirits, to establish justice, to seek the truth and to promote peaceful coexistence, because our Lord wants us to be prophets of hope for our world.
In light of the Gospel of Matthew, Pope Francis warns us about the dangers of false prophets by using the words of our Lord: "... take care that no one deceives you, because many will come posing as me. They will say: I am the Messiah; they will deceive many people" (Mt, 24: 4-59). They are the devils who walk like lions looking for someone to devour and sacrifice with different deceptive offers, so as to drag us towards destruction (1 Peter 5:8). The preferential recipients of such deceptions of these false prophets are our youth. And, unfortunately we see in our daily lives how many young people are fascinated by the temptation of drugs, liquor, strong emotion, an ideological projects which is confused with happiness and thus, they end up losing everything: their dignity, ability to love and freedom, says Pope Francis.
In all these situations, what can we do as the youth of Christ? Do we run away and hide ourselves within the comfort of our cowardice or sit with our arms crossed to avoid the danger they can cause us? We are called to be authentic Christians and we are called to move forward in the world as prophets of hope: in our community, parish, diocese, etc. Let's not be afraid. Let's strengthen our spirit because our God is faithful, who walks with us and gives us the courage we need.
Today, attacked by these uncertain situations, the lights of those who look to the Lord with sincere hearts, seeking to live according to the truth of the Gospel still shines. Without a doubt, it is a prophetic sign of hope.
For young Christians to be prophets in a challenging world like our actuality means witnessing the joy of the Gospel.
I greet you with a Cordimarian fraternity. Happy anniversary on the foundation of our Claretian Congregation July 16, 2018!
Fr. Marselinus Seran, CMF is an Indonesian Claretian who lives and work in Venezuela.
He shares with us his perspective on being a prophet nowadays.