Witnesses joyfully spread the love of God's truth

Editor’s note: This is the winning entry for the Friars essay contest.

After Jesus rose from the dead and made Himself known to His disciples in Jerusalem, He gave them a mission that He invites us to partake in as well. We, too, need to tell the truth and we are called to do it joyfully.   

When Jesus appeared to His disciples He allowed them to hear His voice, see His body and touch His wounds. By engaging in this intimate verification of their Lord, the disciples realized that their beloved teacher was in their midst. With Jesus’ appearance, they not only became witnesses to the Resurrection, they became witnesses to the truth of Jesus’ entire life and ministry. All He has told them is true.  Jesus said, “You are witnesses to these things.” Jesus meant that the disciples had seen the truth. They were obliged, impelled to tell what they know. Jesus challenged them to do so. By calling the disciples to be witnesses, Jesus united them together in Himself.

They experienced joy. The call to witness and the invitation to joy are extended to us through the Gospel. Jesus desires that we experience Him and spread the joy we experience to those around us. Jesus is calling us to live as witnesses to His Word. He is calling us to see, touch, hear and live His message of infinite love. He is calling us as Christians to spread His love to all those we encounter in our day-to-day lives. We are being asked to tell people about God, but more importantly, to act in a manner that the truth becomes evident in our lives. We are called to live joyfully.

To be effective witnesses and to experience that joy, we need to know and experience Jesus as intimately as the disciples did. They spent time doing ordinary, mundane things with Jesus, things that nourished their relationship with Him. We also need to invite Jesus into our everyday lives. We can do this by asking Jesus to be with us in prayer. We can also ask Jesus to be with us in times we share with close friends and family. When we spend time with people who are also trying to witness to Jesus, we help each other to know Him better. To be effective witnesses we must joyfully spread the love of God’s truth to everyone we meet.

(Robinson, 16, is a Grade 11 student at Holy Trinity Catholic High School in Port Dover, Ont.)

For othe entries, please see: Friars' Student Writing Award contest leads youth to Scriptures