Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking
that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.
It is really hard not to prepare a defense beforehand. We love to rehearse what we will say and imagine all the different directions a conversation might go. But Jesus tells us that even for the hardest conversations being open to the activity of the Holy Spirit in the present moment has more value than any clever arguments we might prepare. Our arguments remain fundamentally limited human words. Our perspective is limited. We don't know the hearts of the people to whom we speak. But if we listen to Jesus, "it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you" (see Matthew 10:20).
We hear about the radical trust to which Jesus calls us and tend to assume it must be primarily for special saints. We can then apply it to ourselves in some limited way wherein we still rely on ourselves but try to reference God occasionally. But this is not the call! We are called to trust in the Spirit and to rely on his guidance as much as any member of the clergy or professed religious. It is not to special saints only, but to "each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good" (see First Corinthians 12:7, emphasis mine).
Trust is the way to victory over the beast. It precisely this attentiveness to the Spirit that allows us to learn the song of the Lamb and makes us to sing it in harmony together with the whole people of God.
Great and wonderful are your works,
Lord God almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
O king of the nations.
Who will not fear you, Lord,
or glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All the nations will come
and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.
When we learn to put this level of trust into practice fear will no longer control us. It won't be gone entirely, but it will have transformed into easily ignored background noise in the face of the love of the Father given to us in the Holy Spirit. We will know that the one in whom we trust is greater than any opposition we face.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.
By your perseverance you will secure your lives.
So let us trust and listen. Let us sing the new song God is teaching!
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
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