In today's first reading, Acts 16: 11-15, Paul and his companion sailed from Troas to Samothrace and then on to Neapolis and Philippi, where they looked for a place to pray and met Lydia, a woman who worshiped God. As she listened to Paul, "the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying." She and her whole household were baptized and she then invited Paul in to stay with her family. and he did so! Jesus says to us in the Gospel, John 15: 26-16: 4a, "When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify...."
Paul and his companions testified to Lydia and she and her family, in turn, to Paul and his companions. You and I, also, have been sent the same Advocate in our baptism, our confirmation, in the Eucharist and in all of the ways that we love others and ourselves and provide nourishment for one another, be that physical, spiritual or psychological "food". On the strength of the One sent by Jesus, we are empowered to do for others what Lydia and her family did for Paul and his companions.
Jesus tells us that He has sent the Advocate to us so that we also "may not fall way" when hard times come upon us, when, in particular, our lives are threatened by unbelievers, by those who "will think [they are] offering worship to God" by seeking our lives. You and I might not be in danger of being martyred. However, there are dangers in our world that threaten the life of our faith, our trust in God, our love for others and for ourselves. There are forces in the world that erode our confidence in doing good, in giving of ourselves to others for their own sake, in reaching out to the needy, the oppressed, the marginalized of our society. To go against these forces, we need the Advocate, sent "from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father" and who testifies to Christ!
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