6th week in Easter Time, Monday – 18th May 2020 — Gospel: Jn 15,26-16,4a
Testimony of the Spirit
The testimony of the Spirit has a two-fold focus. First focus is in the Spirit’s witness on behalf of Jesus. The Spirit bears witness that the mission of the Father and the Son has been completed. The cross was not some mockery or failure of God’s intent. From creation all things happened with the Word (1,1-2). The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (1,14). It was necessary that the Son be “lifted up” on the cross in order to confirm the depth of the Father’s love for the world (3,14-17). At the point of being lifted up, Jesus the Son declares the fulfillment of that mission: “It is finished” (19,30). Second witness is that the Spirit gives power to the community of believers not to identify themselves as abandoned or forsaken. Rather the Spirit empowered them and sent to bear witness to the world of the events of the Son as God’s love for the entire world.
