The Spirit of truth will be my witness
I have told you all this that your faith may not be shaken.

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Acts 16:11-15

 So we put out to sea from

Troas and sailed straight across to Samo­thrace Island, and the next day to Nea­polis.  From there we went inland to Philippi, the leading city of the district of Macedonia, and a Roman colony. We spent some days in that city.

 On the sabbath we went outside the city gate to the bank of the river where we thought the Jews would gather to pray. We sat down and began speaking to the women who were gathering there. One of them was a God-fearing woman named Lydia from Thyatira City, a dealer in purple cloth.

As she listened, the Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying. After she had been baptized together with her household, she invited us to her house, “If you think I am faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us to accept her invitation.

 

Ps 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6, & 9b

The Lord takes delight in his people.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊  

John 15:26 – 16:4a

 From the Father, I will send you the Spirit of truth. When this Helper has come from the Father, he will be my witness,   and you, too, will be my witnesses for you have been with me from the beginning.

 I tell you all this to keep you from stumbling and falling away.   They will put you out of the Jewish communities. Still more, the hour is coming when anyone who kills you will claim to be serving God;  they will do this because they have not known the Father or me.   I tell you all these things now so that when the time comes you may remember that I told you.

I did not tell you about this in the beginning because I was with you.

 

  Gospel Reflection：

Understanding the Enemies

Jesus forewarns the disciples that much persecution, including martyrdom, awaits them. But he also gives them an insight: their enemies would do so to them precisely because “they have not known the Father” or the Son.

It is this awareness that makes it easy for Jesus to pray, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (LK.23:34). Peter refers to such ignorance in his address to his fellow Jews: “And now, friends, know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers” (Acts 3:17).

Paul too refers to such ignorance when he writes thus: “None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8). Once we realize that people hurt us out of ignorance of who God truly is, it is easier for us to forgive and reach out to them and share our Father with them.