WORD 2day: 27th May, 2014

The Advocate to come...

Acts 16:22-34; Jn 16: 5-11

Beaten, bruised and bound, they sang the praises of the Lord! Will not the glory of the Lord be revealed there? The act of Paul and Silas in the prison was such a powerful witness that the prison guards expected anything anytime. They were capable of it, because of the Spirit that filled them, fueled them and fired them.

It is the Advocate that Jesus promised to his disciples who makes the entire difference and the difference is enormous. We see this in the very first moment when the apostles come out to speak in public. The frightened band of messengers had been turned into fiercely blazing firebrands. 

Added to this, Jesus says, when He comes He will convict the world. Every heart is given the possibility to know what is true, good and just; every human heart has a longing for someone beyond oneself; every person called by the waters of baptism realises at the core of one's being, the need to be a righteous witness. Sin, righteousness and judgement - they decide the quality of one's witnessing life. Are we prepared to receive the Advocate who is to come?

WORD 2day: 26th May, 2014

On our way to the Reign

Acts 16: 11-15; Jn 15: 26 - 16: 4

"The Spirit of truth" that Jesus speaks of in the Gospel is witnessed to be at work in the first reading event from the Acts of the Apostles - that of the lady and her household, who accept the Lord and get baptised! While on the one hand there are people who are waiting to take the apostles to task and persecute them in all known ways, there are at the same time a multitude who are ready to protect, help and fend for them.

This discrepancy comes to the fore in our day to day experience too, when we find the Spirit at work within us. We will feel an urge to spread the Word, but will be faced with obstacles and hurdles: it is the Spirit of the Lord who leads us to discern the rightway that a believing community should take at a particular point of time. Though the persecutions may abound, the final result will be a 'revival'...and that is what we hope for.

Let our hearts, homes and our households be filled with the Spirit of truth, that we may set in motion real journey towards the Reign of God.