Jesus has good news and bad news for His disciples as He speaks to them during the Last Supper on the eve of His suffering and death. The good news is that, after Jesus has left them, they will be filled with the Spirit, the Spirit of His Father and of Jesus Himself. Speaking in the name of that Spirit they will bear witness to Jesus and continue His work of proclaiming the Kingdom, a message directed to people in every corner of the world.

The bad news is that there will be many who will not want to hear that message, who will prefer darkness to light. Not only will they not want to hear the message, they physically attack the abuse the messengers. And they will believe they are doing a good thing in doing so. The history of the Church has only confirmed this warning of Jesus and it is still true in our own time. We should then, not be surprised at the opposition that we meet when we try to live our Christian life openly and with integrity. We should, however, be aware also that at times we are justly criticized for our failure to give witness to what we stand for.