Jesus says that we must bear witness but that this witness will cause resistance and even persecution.  For us, in our time, it is not a matter of being thrown out of Jewish synagogues but of being rejected and mocked by the secular world.  This is evident in many of our forms of entertainment and the loss of all religious life among many young people, and the values that many older people live by show how little influence God has in their lives.

In such circumstances what kind of sign can we Christians be that will attract the lost and enlighten the world?  We cannot be arrogant and apodictic, merely condemnatory and divisive, nor can we simply proclaim the Good News in word: the world will only know that we have what it hungers for by seeing our love and the way that we put that love into practice.

We must be the kind of humble and gentle seekers after truth that show --- "witness" --- that we have already found the true source of life and are seeking only to grow in the Lord and to share him.  Our guide and our strength in this will be the Spirit.