How to be a prophet

I was discussing Constitutions no. 5 with another Carmelite yesterday.  Appealing to the example of St Elijah, it speaks of the ‘prophetic’ dimension of our Carmelite calling, and I had a strange feeling that I had not really registered this aspect of Carmel before.  My mind had always focussed on prophesying as saying prophetic things, but my friend suggested that it also had to do with listening and observing.  The prophet is a seer, and that word contains the verb see. To be a prophet in respect of relationships is to see the person in front of you as that person really is, to see beneath the appearances, to see the truth of the person.  I think this is an important dimension of loving.  I love the people I encounter in my daily life by noticing them, by being attentive to them, by sensing if they need something that I can give.  (Or equally, by sensing if they have something to give me that I need.)  I think this attentiveness is a gift of God and we do well to ask for it in prayer, because we need help to escape from the prison of our preoccupation with ourselves. 

Intercessions:

Louise Aldred OCDS RIP – a long-time member of the Nottingham Secular community

Brian Davis – cancer

Marie, Bernard (and wife Angela caring for him) - cancer

Siena, Elara – sick children

Wojtek – massive heart attack leaving him incapacitated

David - housebound

Sophia – blind infant

Rebekah – in hospital