The Spirit of truth will be my witness;
and you too will be my witnesses. JN 15: 26, 27
ACTS 16:11-15
My Soul's Beloved,
The heart of a woman is more sensitive, more attuned to the Voice of God, and often more readily open to listen and receive grace. St. Paul and his companions are at the disposal of the Holy Spirit, and wherever He leads, they go. They travel from place to place, city to city, preaching and teaching the Good News. They went where the people were and preached to whoever was present. Today we read how he preached to the women who had come to hear them, and there was one particularly devout woman, Lydia, who opened her heart to You, received You, and was baptized, and not just her but her entire household.
Beloved, we can take heart from her experience. We who are baptized and grafted into Your Body will also hear our prayers for our family, and in time, all the members of our household will give their lives to You. Lydia generously opened her home to St. Paul and his companions and insisted that they stay with her, her family refusing to take no for an answer. Loving Jesus, give us generous hearts. We may not be able to leave our homes to evangelise, but we can support those who do with our prayers, as well as monetary help. In this way, we too become missionaries and will be blessed. Open our hearts and our hands to give what we can, O Lord, and most especially to pray for those who do Your work in difficult and dangerous places.
Sailing from Troas we made a straight run for Samothrace; the next day for Neapolis, and from there for Philippi, a Roman colony and the principal city of that particular district of Macedonia. After a few days in this city we went along the river outside the gates as it was the sabbath and this was a customary place for prayer. We sat down and preached to the women who had come to the meeting. One of these women was called Lydia, a devout woman from the town of Thyatira who was in the purple-dye trade. She listened to us, and the Lord opened her heart to accept what Paul was saying. After she and her household had been baptised she sent us an invitation: ‘If you really think me a true believer in the Lord,’ she said ‘come and stay with us’; and she would take no refusal.
PSALM 149:1-6,9
The Lord takes delight in his people.
Sing a new song to the Lord,
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel rejoice in its Maker,
let Zion’s sons exult in their king.
Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music with timbrel and harp.
For the Lord takes delight in his people.
He crowns the poor with salvation.
Let the faithful rejoice in their glory,
shout for joy and take their rest.
Let the praise of God be on their lips:
this honour is for all his faithful.
JOHN 15:26-16:4
My Soul's Beloved,
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘When the Advocate comes,
whom I shall send to you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth who issues from the Father,
he will be my witness.
And you too will be witnesses,
because you have been with me from the outset.
‘I have told you all this that your faith may not be shaken.
They will expel you from the synagogues,
and indeed the hour is coming
when anyone who kills you
will think he is doing a holy duty for God.
They will do these things
because they have never known
either the Father or myself.
But I have told you all this,
so that when the time for it comes
you may remember that I told you.’
Sailing from Troas we made a straight run for Samothrace; the next day for Neapolis, and from there for Philippi, a Roman colony and the principal city of that particular district of Macedonia. After a few days in this city we went along the river outside the gates as it was the sabbath and this was a customary place for prayer. We sat down and preached to the women who had come to the meeting. One of these women was called Lydia, a devout woman from the town of Thyatira who was in the purple-dye trade. She listened to us, and the Lord opened her heart to accept what Paul was saying. After she and her household had been baptised she sent us an invitation: ‘If you really think me a true believer in the Lord,’ she said ‘come and stay with us’; and she would take no refusal.
PSALM 149:1-6,9
The Lord takes delight in his people.
Sing a new song to the Lord,
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel rejoice in its Maker,
let Zion’s sons exult in their king.
Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music with timbrel and harp.
For the Lord takes delight in his people.
He crowns the poor with salvation.
Let the faithful rejoice in their glory,
shout for joy and take their rest.
Let the praise of God be on their lips:
this honour is for all his faithful.
The Lord takes delight in his people.
JOHN 15:26-16:4
My Soul's Beloved,
God's plan of salvation unfolds slowly but surely from the dawn of creation to the present day, and until You return in glory. At first, God revealed Himself to individuals Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the patriarchs, and prophets until the time had come when God would reveal Himself in the Flesh to the world. The Father sent You, His only Son, because He loves us and wanted to reveal His love in a way that was tangible and real. You came so we could see You, touch You, consume You. You made the Father known to us and once Your mission of revealing the kind of love that God has for us, the kind of love that lays down His life for His friends, so we can never doubt the greatness of it, the fullness of it, the power of it, the goodness of it, You returned to Him and in turn, from the Father, You send us the Advocate, the Holy Spirit.
Without the Holy Spirit, we would never be able to plumb the heights, the depths, the breadth, and the width of the Love of God for us. The Apostles were incapable of remembering, understanding, and conveying faithfully all that they had heard You say, teach, preach, and do. We are limited and finite; we need divine help to remember, recall, understand, and convey without error the mysteries of God. They could not have been such powerful witnesses had they not first been able to recall perfectly and understand eternal, divine truths.
Every Catholic, by virtue of our baptism,is privileged to be born into the Church You founded, where the fullness of Beauty, Goodness, and Truth abides; we too are called to witness boldly to the Good News not so much with words but by our lives. We are called to be the lamp on the lampstand, the salt of the earth; we are to illumine Your Light in a world that is dark, sad, lonely, and in pain. You warn us, O Lord, that if we witness boldly to You, the enemies of Truth that killed You will most assuredly do the same to us. History is soaked in the blood of martyrs, and some nations to this day continue to soak the earth with the blood of Christians, but it is from this blood that new Christians will spring up and flourish. In the end, O Lord, there will be but one flock and one Shepherd under the visible head, Peter.
We pray for this day. We ask You to hasten this day. Give us boldness and courage to lay down our lives for the sake of the Gospel so You can return again quickly and establish Your Lordship over all. Maranatha, Lord Jesus. Maranatha!
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘When the Advocate comes,
whom I shall send to you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth who issues from the Father,
he will be my witness.
And you too will be witnesses,
because you have been with me from the outset.
‘I have told you all this that your faith may not be shaken.
They will expel you from the synagogues,
and indeed the hour is coming
when anyone who kills you
will think he is doing a holy duty for God.
They will do these things
because they have never known
either the Father or myself.
But I have told you all this,
so that when the time for it comes
you may remember that I told you.’
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