STEPHEN DIED FOR HIS FAITH: Stephen, among others,
demonstrates the ultimate cost of discipleship. Herod beheaded John the Baptist
because of his fearlessness in proclaiming the truth (Matt 14:10). He also
killed James (Acts 12:2). Stephen knew the fate of these courageous disciples,
yet he was not deterred in confronting the elders and the scribes with their hypocrisy.
We heard him in the first reading: “You stiff-necked people,
uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit … Which of
the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who
announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now
betrayed and murdered” (Acts 7:51-52). Stephen was direct in his confrontation.
He was destined for this moment because this direct confrontation and his eventual
death were to take the Gospel to the next level. Stephen yielded to the
prompting of the Holy Spirit at that hostile moment. It was better for one man
to die than to allow the Gospel to be stifled. It was Tertullian (AD 160-225),
who, in his most famous work, Apologeticus
(50:13), said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.
Stephen, instead of apostatising in order to be spared, became even more
resolute in his faith. He died gracefully, with the gift of the beatific
vision. How many of us would act like Stephen when we face imminent danger of
death on account of our faith? We are lucky that this temptation has not yet
come to us. We are fortunate that in our struggle against sin, we have not yet
resisted to the point of shedding our blood (cf. Heb 12:4). Let us pray for the
grace to be as resolute as Stephen, if such a temptation comes.
PRAYER: Lord, increase our faith and give us courage to
defend our faith amidst hostilities. We commend our spirits into your hands.
Amen.
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