Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.
AN ENCOUNTER THAT LEADS TO AUTHENTIC WITNESSING
A witness must be someone who has seen and experienced something and could testify to the facts of what he or she has seen. Today in a special way Jesus appeared to his disciples wishing them peace and commissioning them to bear witness to his resurrection. He commissioned his disciples with these words “You are witnesses to this”.
The disciples had witnessed Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection and here comes the mission to witness this to the whole world and to proclaim reconciliation with God through Jesus. We too receive this commission of being his witnesses, through our baptism we are incorporated into the Church to authentically bear witness to the faith we profess.
Dear friends, it is our task to carry on this mission of Christ throughout the whole world. If we do not, then, the world will not hear Christ’s message of reconciliation, forgiveness and victory over sin and death, thereby, making the world remain ignorant of what God has done for us and the consequences of this ignorance is the root of the problems in our world today.
However, we can not bear effective witness unless we have a personal experience of the risen Lord. It is this personal experience that enables Peter to bear effective witness of Christ before the people as we read in our first reading today (Acts 3:11-26), we too can do the same when we experience the risen Lord personally in our lives.
LET US PRAY: Lord Jesus, let us once again experience you personally in our lives and give us the grace to bear authentic witness of your presence in the world, especially at this moment when the world is in a state of confusion not knowing what to do. Manifest your victorious power afresh in our lives, families, societies and the world at large. You who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.
