Heroic Intimacy

“It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless” (John 6:63). It is possible to acquire the courageous tenacity of St. Peter and the apostles by the creative power of the Spirit within us, helping us to focus on the heroic following of Jesus our Redeemer and Model. It was the Spirit sent by Jesus who miraculously transformed the timid, fearful apostles to courageous proclaimers and witnesses of the Good News of the Risen Lord.

As baptized and confirmed Catholics, we are wont to witness to the mission of our Redeemer who showed us His unconditional Love beyond measure, to the shedding of His Blood as sacrifice in payment for our sins, to win for us eternal life. As the disciples drew closer to Him, we can also grow in intimacy with this Greatest Lover of humanity by surrendering to him our ‘all’ just as popular songs nowadays put it in words of exchange like ‘you give your all to me; I give my all to you’ but of course we mean God as ‘you’. For God is love and he who lives in love lives in God, and God in him (1 John 4:16).

‘Love conquers all’ as a saying goes. A heart that truly loves and has given one’s all to Jesus, follows the Lord day by day, sharing the joy of this love by word and the witness of one’s daily life. When confronted with worldly opposition, we shall be driven by the Spirit to keep on courageously, armed with God’s love in our hearts, ready to face and conquer the demon of darkness. Then, like St. Peter and the apostles who withstood the threatening interrogations and orders of the Sanhedrin to stop using the name of Jesus, we too shall boldly declare: “Better for us to obey God than men” (Acts 5:28).