Sunday II of Ordinary Time
January 18th
Jn 1, 29-34
Many times, more than witnesses, we are repeaters. We don’t speak of what we have seen (experienced); we repeat what others have told us, what we have read, what we have believed… And in that way, we continue to generate a kind of “bubble” of opinions and beliefs, which do not seek truth above all else, but the protagonism of the self that, through all this, intends to strengthen itself and appear as well “informed”.
The witness, unlike the repeater, is someone who “has seen.” And what we have to see, initially, is not something external or alien to us. It’s not about accumulating more information, but about knowing ourselves, each time in greater depth. Self-knowledge constitutes the foundation of every spiritual path because, as the inscription in the Temple of Delphi recalled, he who knows himself, knows the universe and the gods.
Only someone who travels that path of self-knowledge – who generally, in successive layers – “puts a name” to everything that moves within them, accepts themselves more and more completely, and rests and lives in the depth of what they are – can speak in the first person – can only be a witness.
The person known in that way is a witness, even before opening their mouth. Because they transmit what they live and their mere presence constitutes an invitation and an incentive to set us on a path. A path that requires training sustained attention, developing growing self-acceptance, and living an unconditional and trusting surrender to the wisdom that governs the entire process, to life that, in the form of Longing, tirelessly beats within us.
Enrique Martínez Lozano
(Weekly bulletin)
English version translated with AI