If you’ve been a regular at Mass over these summer months you will have listened to the guidance of the prophets in our readings.

Whether you've heard God’s wisdom and warnings through Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, Micah or Hosea, it’s that time of year when we are given the revelatory word that brings about change in the hearts of some or consolation in the hearts of others.

But, as our General Secretary Canon Chris Thomas tells us, prophets are often misunderstood.

“Lots of people think that prophets are there to predict the future when really that's not fully their role,” he tells us on our At the Foot of the Cross podcast. "Prophets, as we understand them, are people who are endowed with a supernatural gift of wisdom to be claimed in the hearts of the people. They challenge current day practices and make known to the people the consequences of not changing their ways.”

Canon Thomas uses three vocational stories about prophets and their preaching, focusing on Amos, Isaiah and Jeremiah.

As we go through the Summer, we'll hear the prophets time and time again. Listening to their words can, at times, be quite difficult, but Canon Thomas offers some advice.

“If you keep in the back of your mind that prophets are given a specific word by God to preach to the people so that they will return to being faithful to the covenant and adapt their way of living,” he says. “They can then, as the Prophet Micah says, act justly, love mercifully or tenderly, and more humbly with God. This then leads them to the fullness of life.”

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Ahead of the World Day of Prayer for Grandparents and the Elderly, Bishop David Evans has spoken about the need for us to value the elderly and recognise the important contribution grandparents make to society.

On this 'Catholic News' podcast we discuss how we can use this day, on Sunday 28 July, as one of thanksgiving and prayer for grandparents and the elderly.

"We might have a rather rosy idea of family life or of the life of older people," says Bishop Evans, our Lead Bishop for Marriage and Family Life. "In fact, they have their difficulties and their burdens. We are able to recognise these, and to think about the social implications of their isolation. It's important we pray for them and recognise that they too are included in God's love for all."

Bishop Evans affirms young people in their care for the elderly - particularly grandparents:

"One thing that strikes me is the love which grandchildren have for their grandparents. We're not asking anything exceptional, for them to take care of their grandparents. Many are doing this already, which is a wonderful thing. But it might just be an opportunity just to do something a bit extra for them on this day, to keep them in our prayers, to think perhaps a bit beyond family members, not just our grandparents, but the older people who might live next door."

He adds a further suggestion for social outreach:

"It may be that one or two people are able, with the proper precautions, to visit older people who live nearby or who live in care homes - paying a little visit to make their day a bit better."

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Ahead of Sea Sunday, the day we come together to pray for seafarers and fishers to thank them for the vital role they play in all of our lives, we spoke to Deacon Nick O'Neill, the Senior Area Port Chaplain for the South of England and Wales for Catholic charity Stella Maris.

In this Catholic News podcast, Deacon Nick discusses the joys and challenges of his job supporting seafarers with host Fionn Shiner.

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