Come, Holy Spirit, in your great love and tender presence. Work within your people. Show us the way to live and to witness by our lives as well as by our words. Work you loving will in and among us who are the Body of your dearly beloved Son, Jesus Christ!
Recently, we have come from the liturgical "mountain tops" of Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. The Spirit has been poured out and we have joined the company of saints enroute to our heavenly home, of whom Jesus is the leader. He has gone ahead to prepare a place for each of us, His chosen ones; called, baptized, molded, and led by His Holy Spirit.
Enamored and inflamed by the Holy Spirit, do you not yearn for His love and presence now, as well as for ages to come? How many times have we not heard one another express that very concern for a loved one as well? Let us take some time then to reflect on Colossians 3 and think about the meaning of witness.
Liturgically we are in the days after pentecost. A rereading of the book of Acts will refresh our memory about the early witnesses. Briefly defined, witness is a martyrdom. It is a total laying down of ones's life on every level of one's being. This is not in a worldly sense of shear determination, exerting one's will, or the other side of the coin being a doormat. Rather, it is a surrender to the loving presences of the Holy Spirit so that a true transformation of being from within can take place.
As we reflect on our own witness, in light of the reading from Colossians, my prayer is that we might be so filled with God's love that you and I may be able to see our own attitudes and actions in the light of God's two edged sword, His word. This is not for you to be discouraged, but to be built up by His Word and to rejoice in the fact that we have a savior and it is He alone who desires and will transform us into His image that the world might believe. For it is not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord, [Zech. 4:6] that the works of God are done in us and around us.
What then is the key to this witness life? The key here for us is surrender. Surrender to whom? the person of Jesus. Surrender of what? our own self will. To live with peace with oneself and at peace with one another requires surrender of the self will to Jesus in all the circumstances of one's life. Accepting life on life's terms while praying for receptivity to the Holy Spirit's guidance is what it is all about.
Did Jesus not say that he came for one purpose to do the will of His Father? [Jn: 4:34; 5:30; 6:38]
Printed in the July 1994 issue of the "Living Water." Published for the Charismatic Renewal in the Diocese of San Jose, California. Permission to copy is granted, as long as proper credit is given.
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