On the occasion of the XXIII World Day of the Youth, Benedict XVI sent to the youths a Message entitled, «“You will receive the power of the Holy Spirit which will come upon you; and then you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). This offers us the opportunity for a spiritual reflection on the passage of the Acts of Apostles containing this sentence (Acts: 1, 6-8).

The Biblical Text

«Now having met together, they asked him, Lord, has the time come for you to restore the kingdom of Israel? He replied, ‘It is not for you to know times or dates that the Father has decided by his own authority, but you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit which will come on you and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem, but throughout Judea and Samaria and indeed to earth’s remotest end”» (Acts: 1,6-8).

This is from the prologue of the Acts of the Apostles, where Luke puts his second book in relation with the first one. During the period of forty days between Easter and Pentecost, the Risen Lord appears frequently and stays convivially with his apostles, speaking with them about the Kingdom of God. This arouses in them the question, ‘Lord, is this the time for you to restore the kingdom of Israel?”  This question proves that the apostles had a confused understanding of the Kingdom of God, an understanding that needed to grow to maturity. They were still waiting for the restoration of the kingdom of David, thus giving a nationalistic content to the Kingdom of God.

The Risen Lord does not clarify the equivocal understanding, but leaves a further clarification to the Spirit. He does not even answer the question about “the time”; he does not satisfy their curiosity about the time of the final fulfilment. The sense is clear: we need to place our trust in God who guides everything with wisdom, intervening at the favourable time for the realisation of his saving plan.

A certain eschatological impatience might probably have been spreading among the Christian communities and Luke wanted to dissipate every doubt from the very beginning: the time that waits for the apostles is that of the Church, of the mission and not that of the imminent end. It is the time of the mission moved by the Spirit that will be given to the disciples, so that they may be true witnesses. Thanks to the descent of the Holy Spirit, the apostles will be able to be witnesses everywhere, starting from Jerusalem.

The holy city that in the first work of Luke was the point of arrival, in the second work becomes a point of irradiation. The journey of Jesus started from Galilee to reach Jerusalem, now the journey of the Gospel leaves Jerusalem to reach “the earth’s remotest end”. The book of the Acts presents this troubled march, full of obstacles, persecutions and sufferings, but irresistible towards Rome, the city at the centre of a world unified by common laws and valuable roads and from where it was easy to reach the boundaries of the inhabited world.

To Luke, the universalism of Rome was the proper place to spread the message of the Christian universalism. The journey from Rome to Jerusalem shows the journey from a “particular” religion (the kingdom of Israel) to a “universal” religion (the Kingdom of God).

The apostles will receive the Spirit as a gift (See: Acts 2, 38). The power that the Spirit bestows is the equipment of the witnesses (Luke: 24,46-48). The Spirit of God descends on the apostles to make them fit for their activity, like Jesus who at the beginning of his time was qualified by the Holy Spirit (Luke: 3,22; 4,1.14).

The apostles will witness to that Christ who “had” to suffer and to rise according to the Scriptures (Luke: 24, 48…) in his earthly vicissitude and conversion; the remission of sins was granted in his name to everyone, Jews and pagans alike.

In these lines we find the whole programme of the Acts of the Apostles and of every apostle everywhere and at all times.

«You will receive the power of the Spirit»

In the Acts, the Spirit is dynamis: strength, power, dynamism for the mission. The mission is the work of God and cannot be carried on without the power of God. The mission is beyond human possibilities, though God wants to involve man as his collaborator. In fact, the protagonist is He, the Holy Spirit, who has already planned the journey of the mission from Jerusalem to Rome, in order to reach the extreme boundaries of the earth.

The Risen Lord projects a surprising programme to the little group of persons inexpert of journeys, without any cultural preparation, not particularly courageous, opening for them perspectives of a vast unknown world, an emancipated, economically and culturally powerful world, which was feared in its entirety. A disconcerting and ambitious programme, for which, however, the Lord promises the Holy Spirit. Power, first of all, means courage in facing situations that seem to paralyse one’s own strength, for a supplement of interior energy. However, power means also the possibility of overcoming objectively blocking obstacles. The book of the Acts presents a survey of unforeseeable and humanly unaccountable results, such as the conversion of five thousand persons on Pentecost day, after the sermon of Peter, surely not because of a particular eloquence of Peter and his arguments. 

It seems to hear the Lord saying: do not worry about the future; do not be afraid and do not make too many programmes, because the mission belongs to God who has already foreseen everything: You need just to welcome the power and the guidance of the Spirit, allowing yourselves to be carried forward by His wind that blows where He wants. You will witness to a salvation which is not yours, since you cannot save even yourselves. Let yourselves be guided by the Spirit along His ways, mysterious as they may be; the Spirit is not an obscure and blind power; he knows the ways, sometimes straight and other times winding, never asphalt roads yet always leading to salvation.

The first attitude is that of receptivity and docility to His action.

Thus, do pray and purify your heart.  The Spirit is offered as a gift to those who seek Him “with perseverance”.

«You will be my witnesses»

There is a witness that only the apostles can give: to guarantee the identity between the Jesus who walks along the roads of Palestine and the Risen Lord; between the Jesus with whom they had shared vicissitudes, starting from the Baptism of John, and the Jesus who “had eaten and drunk with them” after his death and resurrection. This is the typically apostolic witness, reserved for the twelve, on which the faith of the Church is founded. The Church is apostolic because she lives with the witness of the twelve. The first worry of Peter after the Ascension was just that of restoring the number of the apostles, by replacing Jude with one who had probably been a companion of Jesus during his earthly ministry, and had perhaps lived the experience of the Easter apparitions.

The definitive eschatological Israel had to be based on the “foundation of the apostles”, on “the testimony of the twelve” about the identity of the Risen Lord, as well as about the reality of the resurrection. The apostolic testimony explains many things even today. Faith and apostolic tradition have been the criterion by which the Church chose between “canonical” and “extra-canonical” books. It was considered canonical the writing that respected the faith transmitted by the apostles through a living tradition. Those who speak of manipulation of Christian sources on behalf of the Church do not know how much dear the witness of the apostles was to the first generations, which were ready even to give up their life for it. 

This is why Luke does not recognise in a “technical” sense the title of apostle for Paul; it is because he had not lived with the Lord before his death and resurrection. Not being an eye witness, he could have been accused of being a “visionary”. We know how much Paul suffered because of this.

With Paul the testimony assumes another meaning; from the typical historic founding function we pass on to a duplex function: firstly, the personal witness of a total change of life for being “seized” by Christ, secondly, “preaching the word of the Lord” or “evangelising”.

Paul defines Stephen as “Witness of the Lord” (Acts: 22,20) and, speaking of himself, he says that “he bears witness to the good news of God’s grace” (Acts: 20,24). Witness is he who proclaims the good news, who proclaims the Christ, the Word, the Kingdom of God. In this sense Philip, Paul and Barnaba are witnesses, as well as all the believers of all times.

You, too, are a witness when you feel ready to give up your life like Stephen, like Paul, like Barnaba, like Philip: a life devoted to the cause of the Lord.

«The apostles gave their testimony with great power»

We are at the fourth chapter of the Acts (4, 33), which presents the second summary of the miracle of fraternal life worked by the Spirit. The most shining fruit of fraternal life, (“one heart and one soul” and “everything was in common among them”), was not the well-being of interested persons, but something related to the mission: it is a particular courage and a great efficiency in witnessing to the resurrection of Jesus the Lord.

The most arduous point of today’s proclamation seems to be just the Lordship of the Risen Jesus. How to present him, how to find our way into the shield of scepticism or of indifference? How to make “diverse quality” of Christian proclamation, for the uniqueness of the event of resurrection?

The suggestion flowing from Acts 4, 32-37, is rightly that of cultivating fraternal life.

The commitment to build up islands of fraternity is the first sign, the most formidable supporting point of our Christian witness. Fraternal life receives a particular blessing for witnessing to the Risen Lord, because it touches the heart of the one who proclaims as well as that of the addressee. Only the Spirit knows how to touch the hearts, how “to open a door”, to bring to evidence and give persuasion to the Christian witness.

In fact, the Spirit leads to the mission and this leads to build up fraternal communities, in which the Spirit lives, giving a fruitful splendour before the world, even to those who are less available to be led along the ways of the Lord.

We ask ourselves, as a hypothesis of work, whether the not always brilliant results of the mission are not to be linked with our scarce commitment to fraternal life.

«To the extreme boundaries of the earth»

Luke writes about the enterprises of the Spirit, the Spirit incarnated in common persons who have had the strength of overcoming their fear. If we have the Spirit, we do not fear secularisation, the decreased number of Christians and the extinction of certain forms of religious life. The boundaries of the earth are not only geographic, but also cultural, also today’s certain hopeless situations. The witnesses have always been encountered with critical and “desperate” situations, even when the world lived in peace and security; the hope of the disciple is not to be confused with the optimistic expectations of a better future: our hope is placed in the hands of a loving and provident God. This hope sustains us also in environs where testimony seems to be useless and wasted.

Paul went on witnessing without any hindrance even when he was in chains (Acts: 28,31).

At the end of his second book, Luke calls to memory that, despite persecutions and rejection, delays and laziness, the proclamation of the Gospel went on to reach the extreme boundaries of the earth, without any insurmountable hindrance.

Before being an invitation to commitment and testimony, the message of the Acts of the Apostles is a message of hope. It is such a hope as it does not come from our own power, but from the Spirit that is given to those who pray with Mary, Mother of the Lord, and with the entire community of the faithful (Acts:  1,12-14).

Pier Giordano Cabra
Via Piamarta, 6 - 25100 Brescia