People of the Spirit - witnesses all our life

WORD 2day - Saturday, Last week in the Eastertide

May 18, 2024 - Acts 28: 16-20,30-31; John 21: 20-25

We are at the fag end of the Eastertide, and specially of this week which was continuously preparing us to be reborn as people of the Spirit. The last three days we have been instructed about the importance of witnessing to the Lord and the call that each of us have to that effect. It is by the Spirit that we are raised to be testimonies. If it is the Spirit who raises us to be witnesses, the Spirit will make way - it does not matter how much darkness and delusion surrounds us!

In the first reading we have St. Paul who is witnessing to the Lord against all odds... arrests, persecutions, turtures, attacks, trials, and what not...but he sticks on to his call: to witness, be it in Jerusalem or Judea or in Rome! Today, some of us find ourselves amidst odds, but that cannot exempt us from witnessing to the Lord. 

In the Gospel we have another great example of witnessing - St. John the Evangelist who writes about his testimony - what we have seen, what we have touched and what we have experienced, we share with you. In our day to day life, witness is the way we live, the way we conduct ourselves in our daily duties, the way we confront situations in life and the priorities with which we discern and decide in life. This is an experience shared with the others. What matters therefore here is an interior conviction of having experienced the Lord and having a close rapport with him. It is from there that true witness is born. 

Hence, whether we find ourselves in difficulty or challenge, or we find our daily life in peaceful situation, it does not matter. Our fundamental call is to be witnesses, testimonies to the love and mercy of the Lord - that we can never forget or neglect. As people of the Spirit, we are called to be witnesses all our life. Let us prepare ourselves to seek this grace as we celebrate the coming of the Spirit tomorrow!