Seventh Sunday of Easter
In our first reading we heard of the Martyrdom of St Stephen, who was filled with the Holy Spirit. However, the Jews were infuriated with Stephen’s teachings of the Good News, they ground their teeth at him in a murderous rage. They dragged Stephen out of the city, where he looked up, and could see the ‘Glory of God’ with Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. Stephen saw God’s Glory rather than seeing God directly, face to face, since in Old Testament it says: no man sees me and still lives. However, Stephen did look directly upon the glorified Jesus, shining with his heavenly countenance.
Some of what Stephen saw, the Sanhedrin would have expected to see from heavenly visions, the ‘Glory of God’. However, the challenging part for them, was Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, standing at the right hand of God the Father, implying that Jesus was the Messiah and King after all, to whom God has given everlasting dominion to him.
However, Stephen’s martyrdom and all the following persecutions of Christian people, did not stop the spread of Word of God, far from it. But, actually accelerated Christianity with the mission of spreading the Good News, to the four corners of the world.
St. Stephen’s martyrdom has remarkable parallels to the Passion of Jesus. Like Jesus, Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit and undergoes a transfiguration before his passion. He charges the leaders of Israel for their hardness of heart, he was cast out of the city where Stephen begs forgiveness for his murderers, and at the final moment of his death, echoes the words of Christ, to Jesus himself, ‘Receive my Spirit.’ These parallels show us that the ultimate work of the Holy Spirit is to reproduce in us, as Christians, the life of Jesus, conforming us more and more closely to Jesus himself in both life and death.
In the Gospel we have just heard Jesus praying aloud to his Father the innermost concerns of his heart. With great intimacy and confidence he pours out his deepest feelings about the future mission of the disciples, within his newly formed Church. Jesus appeals to the Father to carry out his plan for the world, which will draw all people together in a common bond of love and unity. A unity which will form the pattern for Christianity for all ages. The more we grow like Christ, the more we grow like one another in love. Only by a strong bond of unity of believers, can knowledge, wisdom, understanding and tradition be passed on from one generation to another.
It goes without saying that the current Christian Church has formed many dividing groups, of different denominations over the years, all with slightly varying interpretations of the Bible. However, we are living stones in the Catholic faith, of which there is only one foundation stone, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Through our Baptism we are called to bear witness making Jesus known to the world, like St Stephen, allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us, especially in our words and actions.
Our love should extend generously to our family, friends, work colleagues, strangers, even to our enemies. If Christ’s prayer of unity is to be realised, our oneness in the Lord must be visible, and not hidden away. Since is says in scripture: ‘No one lights a lamp and puts its in a place where it is hidden, under a bowl. Instead they put it on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see it.’
Same with us, through our Baptism we have received the ‘Light of Christ’, our Baptism candle is always kept burning within our hearts, so to speak. Let us not hide ourselves away, but be bold, full of zeal for the Lord, and filled with the Holy Spirit. We can make a difference, we can bring people to the Lord. As we allow the Holy Spirit to work within us, and we will, like St Stephen, see the ‘Glory of God’ in our final vision, as we are taken away by the hand with all the Angels and Saints.
Rev. Fr Philip Wrigley's Blog 