"Persistent Prophets": A Reflection on the First Reading for July 8, 2018: Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ezekiel 2:2-5

2 And when he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet; and I heard him speaking to me. 3 And he said to me, "Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to a nation of rebels, who have rebelled against me; they and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. 4 The people also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them; and you shall say to them, `Thus says the Lord GOD.' 5 And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that there has been a prophet among them.

I am convicted that our work as a Church, like Ezekiel’s, is to be Prophets to a rebellious people. Even should no one listen. Even should we be mocked, derided and ignored. Canada is no different than the children of Israel. We are, like all sons of Adam, a rebellious people. God has sent us the Law and the Prophets. He sent us His very own Son. And yet here we are still, refusing to acknowledge our sinfulness and continuing along the same paths again and again.

I know many of us are convinced that Canada is a marvellous country, and, in many ways, it is. We can be tempted to look at America and cry out “God, I thank you that I am not like other people - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector.” (Luke 18:11) We rightfully mock America’s immigration law, while forgetting that within living memory we have rejected the strangers at our door (see our treatment of refugees fleeing Nazi Germany), have imprisoned the innocent (see the Japanese internment camps) and pulled children away from their families, causing generational trauma of which we have yet to see the end (see the legacy of the residential schools). The Culture of Death we bemoan in America has long been at Canada’s door as evidenced by these examples and also by the more recent decriminalization of both abortion and physician assisted suicide.

We are a rebellious people. Too long we have turned a blind eye to the persistent work of evil being done within our own country. We are a people who refuse to learn from our history and then hail ourselves as heroes based on superficial things and our political correctness. As a Church, we are called to be like Ezekiel. We should speak out without fear against the evils that have taken root in our nation and do it in such a way that they can’t deny that there have been Prophets in their midst.

We can and should do that by preaching the Gospel and the Truth about the past and present moral injustices at work in our country. Even when the Gospel is preached in "gentleness and reverence" (Peter 3:15), many will refuse to hear us. But we must persist in our preaching of the fullness of the Good News to individuals and on the national stage whenever God presents us the opportunity. Our work matters because God can and does use those he calls as Prophets to soften the hearts of rebellious people. He used Ezekiel. He can and will use us if we let him. ​

​Stephanie Potter

"Our work matters because God can and does use those he calls as Prophets to soften the hearts of rebellious people." - Stephanie Potter (Ora Reflections)