Receive the Power

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses." (Acts 1:8)

I don't know how anyone tries to witness to Jesus Christ without the Holy Spirit. That's like running a marathon through the desert without any water! I remember a great conversation on this topic that I had with Fr. Francis Martin, a Scripture scholar from the Mother of God community we did a podcast with, about evangelization. He said rightly that "evangelization" is never used in Scriptures - but the idea of "witness" is. And Peter and the other apostles were excellent at this (after being baptized with the Spirit at Pentecost). Remember in Acts after being persecuted by the religious authorities for preaching Jesus - they exclaimed "how can we not speak of what we have seen and heard!"

But you say: I have never seen Jesus physically, etc. I say: the Holy Spirit is the one who makes Jesus present to us - and in a way, through faith, just as tangible as seeing someone physically. Because I've seen extraordinary things - and the problem is that weeks, months, years later - the memory grows dim - especially if there is persecution - unless I have the Holy Spirit.

I write all this because the next World Youth Day's theme is the verse from Acts I started with in the blog - and the official theme song recently came out in a video form - check it out... what do you think? I think its a great inspiration for the Catholic Church.

Witnesses to Jesus

On a recent podcast interview Chad and I conducted several months ago with Fr. Francis Martin, a holy and passionate priest and biblical scholar - he mentioned that in the Gospel of John the word "evangelization" never occurs. But "witness" does. He said, a witness is someone who has been with Jesus and has experienced his power and presence in their life.

One of my friends wrote this about her own experience of being witnessed to-

"Witnesses to Jesus are all around me, in every moment of gladness, every kindness bestowed upon me, every person with beauty in their heart, those that love me and continue to love me in my weakness. These are the witnesses that point to Christ. The most positive witnesses of my experience never come from those who are most learned or who make the best argument. They come, always, from those who live humbly with Jesus, who know Jesus so well that they can speak for Him when I am unable to hear for myself. It is out from behind their eyes that He peers, it is between their arms that He embraces, it is from their lips that He sings His love song to me." Click here for the full text of the reflection.

Wow. That is beautiful. Lord, make us true witnesses to you!

How have you been witnessed to?

What type of person best radiated the character, good news, and promises of Jesus to you?

How so?

Evangelizing and Weakness

I'm a personal fan of Pope Benedict XVI... he is an inspiring 80yr old. I don't know how he does it... must be something about the Holy Spirit.

A few weeks ago at the Easter Vigil he prayed an inspiring prayer at the end of his homily-

“Lord, show us that love is stronger than hatred, that love is stronger than death. Descend into the darkness and the abyss of our modern age, and take by the hand those who await you. Bring them to the light! In my own dark nights, be with me to bring me forth! Help me, help all of us, to descend with you into the darkness of all those people who are still waiting for you, who out of the depths cry unto you! Help us to bring them your light! Help us to say the "yes" of love, the love that makes us descend with you and, in so doing, also to rise with you. Amen.”

The lesson I learned from this passionate prayer - was that we all (including those of us who evangelize) of us fall short and we all have "dark nights," but it is precisely in our weakness that St. Paul says Christ is strong...

I helped lead a high school retreat for the People of God Catholic Community in Nanticoke, PA a few weeks back - and we played a Christian "dating game" to teach the kids a lesson. The bachelor asked three girls all sorts of normal dating game questions (to find out who would be the best Christian among them to date) ... and the girls responded in the character of three stereotypical Christian personalities... the Colgate Christian (always smiling - thinks Christianity is synonymous with being jolly all the time), the Chameleon Christian (changes their character to suit the people they are around), and the Super Spiritual Christian (who couldn't really answer the questions - because she was so busy praying the Rosary and reading the Bible simultaneously!).

The kids loved it and the bachelor too - who ended up choosing the "Colgate Christian" ... but found that he should of chose none of them at the end.

Do you find yourself acting like a "Colgate Christian" sometimes?

What about the Pope's prayer resonates in your heart the most?

When has Christ used you precisely in your weakness to lift up others?