THE ULTIMATE WITNESS

Meditation for Monday of the 6^th Week of Easter

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

From now on Jesus will be telling us about the Holy Spirit. These messages are important for us to renew our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Today, He tells us where the Holy Spirit comes from and one major role He comes to play: “When the Counsellor comes, whom I shall send to you FROM THE FATHER, even the Spirit of truth, WHO PROCEEDS FROM THE FATHER, He will bear witness to me;  and you also are witnesses. In other words, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the FATHER through the SON. Thus, it is the Incarnate Son of God that opens the way, and only through Him do we have access to the Holy Spirit. That means when we have the life of Christ in us, or when we try to live as Jesus has commanded us and given us example to, the Holy Spirit permeates, overshadows and mingles in us, .

The presence of the Holy Spirit is itself a testimony to the presence of Christ Jesus, since if we do not have the life of Christ in us we cannot not have the Holy Spirit in us. That means the Holy Spirit bears the ultimate witness to Jesus Christ. Man witnesses to what he has seen and heard. “And you also are witnesses because you have been with me from the beginning.” But human witness does not last due to human short memory and weakness in the face of trials. However, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit overcomes these barriers. He keeps our witnessing to Jesus alive even in the face of persecution.

It was by the internal working of the Holy Spirit that Paul was able to make the series of voyages mentioned in the first reading as witnessed to Jesus Christ. The heroic act of the newly baptized woman, Lydia, announces the presence of the Holy Spirit in her for she did something ordinary in an extraordinary way. So, our faith in God and our life in Christ Jesus open us to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who witnesses through our lives to Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.
Monday May 10^th, 2021.
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