In the First Reading, the Lord says to Saint Paul: “Take courage. For just as you have borne witness to me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome.” This is not only a word for Saint Paul. It is a word for each one of us today.

To believe in the Risen Jesus is not simply to keep faith in our hearts. To believe is to bear witness. And bearing witness is not always easy. Saint Paul bore witness amid opposition, misunderstanding, and even danger to his life. But what does it mean, concretely, to bear witness?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus prays to the Father: “that they may all be one,” and he adds, “that the world may believe that you sent me.” Unity is not just something beautiful. Unity itself is a witness. If those who believe in the Lord are divided, jealous, or speak against one another, then the proclamation of the Gospel becomes weak.

But if we know how to love, to forgive, to support one another, if we can go beyond our differences and live in unity, then our very lives proclaim something powerful: Jesus is alive. Only the Risen Lord can gather different people into one.

So today we ask ourselves: How am I bearing witness to the Lord? By my words? Or by my life?

We are invited to live in unity and love, so that through our lives, others may come to see and believe that Jesus Christ is risen, and he is living among us.

Let us pray:

May your Spirit, O Lord, we pray, imbue us powerfully with spiritual gift, that he may give us a mind pleasing to you and graciously conform us to your will. (Collect of Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter)