“I, Jesus, sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright morning star.” (Revelation 22:16)
Reflections on the readings for the Seventh Sunday of Easter (May 29, 2022): ACTS 7:55-60; PS 97:1-2,6-7,9; REV 22:12-14,16-17,20; JN 17:20-26
MISSIO offers “Mission In Scripture” to nurture a missionary heart, providing reflections on the missionary themes in the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
“Lord, do not hold this sin against them”; and when he said this, he fell asleep.” Acts 7:60
On this Sunday following the Feast of the Ascension, the first reading takes us into the not-too-distant future for Jesus’ disciples. They had experienced the coming of the Holy Spirt at Pentecost and set about their mission of spreading the news of salvation to the whole world, starting in Jerusalem. During this time, probably within the first couple of years after the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus, the early Church saw the need for deacons to serve the needs of the growing community. St. Stephen was one of these. A brave and dedicated follower of Christ, he boldly proclaimed Jesus as our Savior at a time when persecution by the Jewish authorities was growing. “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.’ Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them;’ and when he said this, he fell asleep” (Acts 7:58-60).
In St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church, we find someone who lived and spoke with the fidelity that witnessed his commitment to serving our Lord. His last words remind us of Christ’s own when He addressed the Father as He hung on the cross. Stephen asked Jesus to receive his spirit and also to forgive those who killed him. In him we see a model for the many Christian martyrs to come, from the first century into the twenty-first. There is one other martyr introduced to us here: St. Paul. At the time when he stood watching Stephen being stoned to death, Saul was a fierce persecutor of Jesus’ disciples. He was, indeed, one of those for whom Stephen prayed. Soon after, Christ would dramatically call Saul to a life of faith while on the road to Damascus. As Paul, he too would serve our Lord and His Church, becoming the greatest missionary of the era before dying a martyr’s death, perhaps thirty years later. We, too, must be willing to share Christ with others, knowing that it may demand a great deal of us.
Suggested missionary action: Let us ask St. Stephen and St. Paul to pray for us. We can pray that they intercede that we may be the dedicated followers of Christ that they were. We can also seek their protection for the missionaries of the Church and the people they try to help spiritually and materially.
