Saturday, Twenty Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Towards the beginning of today’s first reading, Paul prays for the members of the church in Ephesus. His prayer includes a prayer that they would be hopeful. He prays that God would ‘enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, what rich glories he has promised the saints will inherit’. Hope is rooted in faith. To believe in God is to hope in God. It is to hope that God’s promises will come to pass. To believe in Jesus, God’s Son, is to hope that Jesus’ promises too will come to pass. In the course of the gospels Jesus makes many promises which often relate to the time of the church. We find one such promise in today’s gospel reading. Having called upon us to openly declare ourselves for him, he goes on to promise us that the Holy Spirit will teach us what we are to say when we find ourselves on trial before the world of unbelief. It is not easy to declare ourselves openly for the Lord in the times in which we live, especially for young people. Jesus was aware that it would not be easy for his first disciples to declare themselves publicly for him. The scenario that Jesus envisages in our gospel reading comes to pass in Luke’s second volume, the Acts of the Apostles. The first disciples were taken before synagogues and magistrates and authorities. Jesus assures them that in this situation they will not be alone. The Holy Spirit who will come down upon them at Pentecost will speak through them, will teach them what to say. That same promise of the Lord is made to us today. He continues to send the Spirit into our lives to empower us to declare ourselves publicly for him and for all he lived and died for. We can be full of hopeful faith that this promise of Jesus will be realized for us as we witness to our faith in him through our daily lives.