The disciples are invited to bear witness to Jesus Christ before the Sanhedrin (cf. Acts 4:8; 5:32), but also before the world.

 

The disciples are invited to bear witness to Jesus Christ before the Sanhedrin (cf. Acts 4:8; 5:32), but also before the world. There is a clear threat to Christ’s action in the world. The disciple must discover it and combat it through faith in Jesus Christ, being completely His, without reservations, courageously facing anything that contradicts the proclamation of salvation, even if it means offering his own life. Martyrdom is the greatest proof of a disciple’s love for his Master.

2. Witness cannot be given without the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who confirms the disciple before Jesus, who sets him on the path of salvation, who configures him to the Savior and encourages him for the mission, even if he has to face what seems impossible. The ferocity of the enemies of salvation is not strong enough to eliminate a disciple of Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit. 3. The Holy Spirit is the Easter GIFT, the GIFT of the Risen One for his disciples. Those who deny Christ still have the possibility of salvation, but those who deny the Spirit cannot be saved, because it is the Holy Spirit who "opens" the human being to God, who breaks down internal barriers, facilitating dialogue with the Lord, who destroys iniquity and transforms each person into a sanctuary of the Most High. Conversion and forgiveness are possible only because of the Holy Spirit; to deny Him means, first of all, to despise LOVE, and then it also means precisely to deny God's salvation and forgiveness. To despise the Spirit of God means to reject the entire Trinity, because the Father acts in the Spirit, the Son acts toward the Father in the Spirit. The Spirit is the One in whom God's action takes place. The Spirit is the Trinitarian LOVE: the Father is the LOVER (the One who loves), the Son is the BELOVED, and the Spirit is LOVE. 4. The disciple is the one who, fully open to the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ, turns completely to the Father, and, in the same Spirit, cries out like Christ "Abba". With the strength of the Spirit, the disciple will be able to combat what is not of God in his own life, in his community and in the world. The disciple must act in the world moved only by love, just as his Master did. Jesus and the Spirit are inseparable. Jesus sent His Spirit to His Church, which became inseparable from the same Spirit of Christ. Thus, inseparable from the Spirit of God, we, disciples of Jesus Christ, must go out into the world and fearlessly proclaim the wonders of salvation. Every action of Jesus was according to the Spirit; in the same way, the Church, which acts and will always act according to the same Spirit. To deny the divine Spirit is the same as rejecting not only personal salvation, but despising all of God. To welcome the Spirit of God is the same as allowing oneself to be guided exclusively by the will of the Lord, to be all of God and to have no idea, thing or person in the place of the Lord. It is up to the disciple to be the bearer of the Spirit to the world in need of salvation.