Catherine Bourassin rscj

Pentecost: You Shall Be My Witnesses

Maureen Currie rscj
Province of Canada

Music: They will know we are Christians by our love... (V. 1,2,3; use inclusive language)

Introduction:
In the discourse at the Last Supper, Jesus said:

“When the Advocate comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who issues from the Father, he will be my witness, and you too, will be witnesses.” (Jn. 15:26-7)

Let us pray that we may be these witnesses to God’s love and mercy, as lived through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Opening Prayer:
Let us pray:
God of surprises,
we come together to praise You
and to open ourselves wide to your touch.
Surrounded by a CLOUD OF WITNESSES, women and men of history,
named and unnamed, known and unknown,
we drink deep of the wisdom and fidelity of the past,
the faith of our foremothers and forefathers
who showed us how to live what we believe.
When driven to doubt, when close to despair,
may we still believe in miracles and WITNESS courageously
to what might be, in Jesus the Christ. AMEN.

Reading from Scripture: (Luke 24: 44-49) or (Acts 10: 34-43)
“Then Jesus told them, ‘This is what I meant when I said while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms, has to be fulfilled.’ He then opened their minds to understand the scriptures and he said to them, ‘So you see how it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses to this. And now I am sending down to you what the Father has promised. Stay in the city, then, until you are clothed with the power from on high’. PAUSE

Reflection: (Paraphrased )
To be a witness means coming to terms with ‘stones’ and with ‘believing’. On Easter morning the women encountered a series of strange occurrences:

Silent Reflection:
What is the obstacle or ‘stone’ to my being a joy-filled witness of the Lord?
Sharing

Music: “You shall be my Witnesses” (Miriam Therese Winter, words and music)

Intercessory Prayer:

Response: Forgive all who are slow to believe the witnesses of God.

Gabriel said to Zechariah: ‘You will be silent, unable to speak, until the day these things come to pass, because you did not believe.’ (Lk. 1: 20) Response

Jesus remained in Galilee, because in Judea they were out to kill him. Even his
brothers did not believe him. (Jn. 7: 1-5) Response

Jesus said: ‘Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house.’ And he did not perform many miracles there, because of their unbelief. (Mt. 13: 57-58) Response

Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and all the women with them, told the apostles what they saw at the tomb, but they did not believe them.
Response

Thomas was absent when Jesus appeared to the company in the upper room. The disciples told him: ‘We have seen the Lord! But Thomas replied: ‘Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger on the mark of the nails, and place my hand on the wound in his side, I will not believe.’ (Jn. 20: 24-25) Response

Let us now invoke some of those who finally DID believe, and became WITNESSES:

Response: Pray for us.

. Man born blind, pray for us. . Mary of Magdala
. Martha and Mary… . Simon Peter
. Risen Lazarus… . Thomas the Doubter
. Joseph of Arimathea… . Beloved Disciple…
. Nicodemua… . Paul of Tarsus…
. Women at the tomb… . The Christian Community gathered
with Mary in the Upper Room…


Closing Prayer:
Jesus, our Comforter, you gave us your secret when you said:
Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe in me. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me, shall never thirst. Come to us now and empower us to be witnesses of your death and resurrection and to its power in our lives. This we ask, through Christ our Lord. AMEN.