6th Week of Easter, Monday, May 15
Acts
16:13-15 / John 15:26 - 16:4
Jesus instructs his disciples; "You must bear witness on my behalf. "
A witness is someone who can say, "1 know what I am talking about from personal experience." Thus, Christian witness involves two things:
(1) a burning internal conviction about Jesus
and (2) a convincing external expression of this conviction. The more burning
the internal conviction, the more convincing the external expression. And how
does one's conviction about Jesus begin and develop? The answer is, "By a
personal experience of Jesus." And how does this come about? It comes
about by opening our heart to Jesus and letting him fill it with his risen
presence.
***
The
world-conquering Paul brought the Church to Europe through Macedonia, from
where Alexander, nearly four hundred years before, had set out to conquer the
world. The first convert welcomed him on this historic occasion. That convert
which Paul made in Europe, was a woman: Lydia. There was no synagogue in
Philippi. The Jews gathered on a sabbath at a place near the river. When Paul
came there, there only a few women, among them Lydia. She was a seller of purple,
a dye that is obtained drop by drop from a Mediterranean snail. As a result of this,
she was a wealthy woman. She had a grand house in Philippi. Luke here has a
lovely expression in "The Lord opened her heart" (verse 14). God
alone has the key to a human heart, he fills it with joy. She was a God-fearing
woman, not a Jewess nor a proselyte, but one who was attracted to the religion
that believed in one God and demanded a high moral standard. She was
hospitable, she invited t/le Apostles to stay and have the Church at her place.
"She would take no refusal" (verse 15). She was not accustomed to
take 'No' for an answer. She was fearless. After Paul ran into trouble with the
authorities and a section oft/le rich, and he' and Silas were jailed, she urged
them to come back and stay with her. They did.
***
What
are we doing to open our heart to Jesus' risen presence? "Behold, I stand
at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, [then] I
will enter his house." Rev 3:20
***
Feast day May 15
Isidore was born in Madrid, Spain, and farming was to be his
labor, working for the same landowner his whole life. While he walked the
fields, plowing, planting, and harvesting, he also prayed. As a hardworking
man, Isidore had three great loves: God, his family, and the soil. He and his
wife Maria, who is also honored as a saint, proved to all their neighbors that
poverty, hard work, and sorrow (their only child died as little boy) cannot
destroy human happiness if we accept them with faith and in union with Christ.
Isidore understood clearly that, without soil, the human race cannot exist too
long. The insight may explain why he always had such a reverent attitude toward
his work as a farmer.
Isidore and Maria were known for their love of the poor.
Often they brought food to poor, hungry persons and prayed with them. During
his lifetime, Isidore had the gift of miracles. If he was late for work because
he went to Mass, and angel was seen plowing for him. More than once he fed
hungry people with food that seemed to multiply miraculously. He died after a
peaceful life of hard labor and charity.
Isidore’s goodness continued. In 1211, he helped the King of
Castile in Spain during a war. He appeared to the king and showed him a path by
which the king surprised and defeated the enemy. In the 1600s when Philip the
King of Spain was near death, people processed to his room, carrying Isidore’s
incorrupt body. By the time they reached the room, the king had recovered.
Today Isidore is honored in Spain as one of the country’s greatest saints, and he is also honored especially in the rural United States. Not surprisingly, he is the patron of farmers and of Madrid, the capital of Spain.
***
Two
weeks from now to Pentecost, our attention is focused on the Spirit. Either the
readings or the prayers, or both speak of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus
was the faithful witness of the Father who showed us, in terms understandable
for people, what God is like, but it cost him his life. Through his Spirit, he
will make his apostles witnesses too. They have seen, so they MUST speak. They
believe, so they MUST speak and act. The Spirit will make them afraid of
nothing and nobody. Every Christian is called to be such a witness.
***
We
are called to be witnesses for Christ in two ways: by our word, by our
suffering. The word 'witness' in Greek is: martyrs. As we use the word today,
it expresses only the second meaning of witnessing, giving our life for Christ.
The qualification of a witness is that he knows the truth, is convinced of it,
and wants to tell the truth. For this we have an advocate who prepares us and
assists us: The Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of Truth. He will lead us into
all the truth. Hatred and persecution would be a terrifying experience to the
disciples. They had all been faithful Jews. To be expelled from the synagogue
would have been unbearable. To soften this experience Jesus speaks to them
plainly. Even today an article against us in the paper, or a morcha (a protest
march), or to be branded anti-national hurts, although we have been often
warned that this will he our fate. Do we remember what he told us?
***
Prayer
Lord,
our God, if we really believe in you and in your Son, we cannot be but
witnesses. Send us your Spirit of strength, that we may give no flimsy excuses for
not standing up for you and for the love and rights of our neighbour. Make us
only afraid of betraying you and people and of being afraid to bear witness. We
ask you this through Christ, our Lord. Amen
