Pope: Holy Spirit strengthens witness even in
persecution
(Vatican Radio) The Holy
Spirit strengthens us so that we may bear witness to the Lord even through
persecution – even to the point of sacrificing our life. But also through
the small persecutions like gossip and criticism. That’s what Pope
Francis said Monday at the daily Mass at the Santa Marta guesthouse in the
Vatican.
As we near Pentacost, the
readings increasingly focus on the Holy Spirit. The Acts of the Apostles
tell us that the Lord opened the heart of a woman named Lydia, a dealer in
purple cloth from the city of Thyatria who came to hear St. Paul.
“This woman felt something
inside her which made her say ‘this is true! And I agree with what this man
says, this man who gives witness to Jesus Christ,’” said the Pope.
“But who touched the heart of
this woman? Who told her: ‘Listen because it is the truth?’” asked the
Pope.
“It was the Holy Spirit who
made this woman feel that Jesus was the Lord; it made her know that salvation
was in Paul’s words; it made this woman hear witness. The Spirit gives
witness to Jesus. And each time we feel something in our heart that draws
us closer to Jesus, it’s the Spirit which is working inside us.”
The Gospel speaks of a dual
witness: that of the Spirit which shares Jesus’s witness, and our
witness. We are witnesses of the Lord with the strength of the
Spirit. Jesus invites the disciples to stand strong because bearing
witness also comes with persecution. From “the little persecutions of
gossip,” criticisms, to the greater kind of persecution of which “the history
of the Church is full: that place Christians in prison or make them even
give up their lives.”
This, Jesus says, is the cost
of Christian witness. In the day’s Gospel we read: ‘They will expel you
from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you
will think he is offering worship to God.’
“The Christian, with
the strength of the Spirit,” said the Pope, “gives witness to the living Lord,
to the Risen Lord, to the Lord’s presence in our midst, that the Lord
celebrates with us His death, His Resurrection, each time we come to the
altar. The Christian too gives witness, aided by the Spirit, in his daily
life, through the way in which he acts. It is the continuous witness of the
Christian. But many times this witness provokes attacks, provokes persecution.”
“The Holy Spirit which
introduced us to Jesus,” continued Pope Francis, “is the same one who urges us
to make Him known to others, not so much through words, but through living
witness.”
“It is good to ask the Holy
Spirit to come into our heart, to give witness to Jesus; tell Him: Lord, may I
not stray from Jesus. Teach me what Jesus taught. Help me remember
what Jesus said and did and also, help me to give witness to these things. So
that worldliness, the easy things, the things that really come from the father
of lies, from the prince of this world, sin, do not lead me away from giving
witness.”
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