Word of the day

A reading from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles
Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59

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."

From the Gospel according to Matthew
Mt 10:17-22

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."

Let us think a moment about this scene: Saul and Stephen, the persecutor and the persecuted. There seems to be an impenetrable wall between them, as hard as the fundamentalism of the young Pharisee and the stones thrown at the man condemned to death. And yet, beyond appearances, there is something stronger that unites them. Indeed, through Stephen’s witness, the Lord is already preparing in Saul’s heart, unbeknownst to him, the conversion that will lead him to be a great Apostle. Stephen, his service, his prayer, the faith he proclaims, his courage, and especially his forgiveness at the point of death, are not in vain. It was said, at the time of the persecutions — and today too it is right to say it — “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christians”. They seem to end in nothing, but in reality, his sacrifice plants a seed that, going in the opposite direction to the stones, plants itself in a hidden way in the breast of his worst rival.

Today, 2,000 years later, unfortunately we see that the persecution continues: there is persecution of Christians. There are still those — and there are many of them — who suffer and die to bear witness to Jesus, just as there are those who are penalized at various levels for the fact of acting in a way consistent with the Gospel, (…) Now as then, in fact, the seed of their sacrifices, which seems to die, germinates and bears fruit, because God continues to work miracles, through them, (cf. Acts 18:9-10), changing hearts and saving men and women. (Angelus, 26 December 2023)