Friends,
in today’s Gospel, Jesus predicts the coming persecution of his
disciples. And we can see his prophetic word realized through the ages.
Think
of St. Peter himself, crucified upside down in the circus of Nero; of
Felicity and Perpetua, thrown to wild animals because they wouldn’t deny
their faith; of Thomas More, who resisted King Henry VIII and paid for
it with his
head; of Paul Miki, the Japanese Jesuit, who was crucified for
announcing the Christian faith; of Padre Pro, who was shot to death for
defying a repressive Mexican government, shouting as he was shot, "Viva,
el Cristo Rey!"; of Franz Jägerstätter and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whom
the Nazi regime put to death; of Maximilian Kolbe, who died at
Auschwitz, willingly taking the place of another man. And the list goes
on and on.
Indeed,
the martyrs have come from all corners of the world, and they have
spoken Greek, Latin, French, German, English, Japanese, Polish, and many
other languages besides. Friends, this, strangely, is the army that
undermines the foundations of the fallen world through the centuries.
This is the great fighting force that Jesus has unleashed and continues
to
unleash.
Feast of Saint Stephen, first martyr
Lectionary: 696
Stephen, filled with grace and power,
was working great wonders and signs among the people.
Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen,
Cyrenians, and Alexandrians,
and people from Cilicia and Asia,
came forward and debated with Stephen,
but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.
When they heard this, they were infuriated,
and they ground their teeth at him.
But he, filled with the Holy Spirit,
looked up intently to heaven
and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
and he said,
"Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man
standing at the right hand of God."
But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears,
and rushed upon him together.
They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him.
The witnesses laid down their cloaks
at the feet of a young man named Saul.
As they were stoning Stephen, he called out
"Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts
and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake
as a witness before them and the pagans.
When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to say.
For it will not be you who speak
but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Brother will hand over brother to death,
and the father his child;
children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but whoever endures to the end will be saved.”
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