Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Jesus speaks in today’s Gospel about the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, again. We have been hearing much about this Divine Friend as we march on toward Ascension and Pentecost in the Liturgy. The Advocate will come to “convict the World.” The Advocate will speak for righteousness. Paul and Silas faced abhorrent treatment for their witness to Christ. They are stripped and beaten and then thrown into prison. They suffered and were willing to suffer for their faith in Jesus.
We live in a country where people are imprisoned for breaking the law. If someone is innocent and wrongly imprisoned, there is the option for them to seek compensation. We don’t understand how many people in the World suffer. In so many places someone can be imprisoned based on unjust reasons. Many people go to jail because they are poor or for their ethnicity. We forget too that so many fellow Christians languish in prisons around the World simply for being Christian. Freedom is taken from so many, and yet freedom is always given to the Righteous because of their faith in Christ!
Brothers and sisters, let us live in the freedom of the Spirit today, giving thanks for our freedoms and the graces we receive everyday in the Sacraments. Pray to the Holy Spirit that you always remember your freedom as a Catholic Christian, and reject the false freedom of the World, for “the ruler of this World has been condemned.” Amen.
Reflection by Br. Matthew Marie, OSB
Posted in Article for Easter, Daily Reflections