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!

 

People of the Spirit - Raised as Witnesses

WORD 2day - Friday, Last week in the Eastertide

May 17, 2024 - Acts 25: 13-21; John 21: 15-19

The Word this week has been continuously inspiring us to reflect on how to be people of the Spirit and yesterday we were called to look at our mission of witnessing to the Lord, as a sign of being the people of the Spirit. Today, the Word rests still on the same point and focuses on explaining to us, witnessing is not merely our merit or our skill, but we are raised to be witnesses! When we are disposed, when we allow the Spirit to work within us and with us, we shall be raised to be marvellous witnesses to the Lord! And we have two examples presented to us: Paul and Peter. 

Paul, would have never even imagined about going to Rome to bear testimony, but the Spirit of the Lord makes him aware of that call: you shall bear witness to the Lord in Rome, just as in Jerusalem. But how he would get there, and how he would be enabled to bear witness, all that is worked out by the Spirit of the Lord. Paul need not have appealed to Ceasar, Festus needs not have consented to it or need not have taken the efforts to reach Paul to Rome, but it all happens and the rest is history. We know, though in house arrest, Paul preached and bore witness to the Risen Lord, in a powerful manner and wrote such inspiring letters from the custodial stay. 

Peter, never would have imagined that he would be reinstated as "the Rock" that he was meant to be! He knew what a treacherous defaulter he had been. But Jesus seems to pay no attention to that bitter past; he seems to be looking elsewhere, at the future, at the path ahead! Jesus asks Peter, if he really loved him, not because Jesus wanted to know, but because Jesus wanted Peter to know that what really mattered was the real love that he had in the depth of his heart for Jesus! And with that love, he wanted Peter to get over his self remorse and self pity, and walk towards caring for the others and strengthening his brothers. To us too, this is what Jesus asks: that we become mindful of the love we have for Christ and show that in action by loving others. Thus we shall be raised into witnesses, powerful witnesses.

Let us remember, we are raised as witnesses and when we place ourselves in the wings of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit shall raise us, raise us as witnesses, as powerful witnesses!