Homily for 7th Sunday of Easter

Homily for the
7th Sunday of Easter

May 29, 2022
Acts 7: 55-60
St. Joseph Church, New Rochelle

“Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7: 55).

The Stoning of St. Stephen (Annibale Carracci)

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles this morning reports the martyrdom of St. Stephen, the 1st disciple of Jesus to be killed because of his faith in Jesus.  He’s been preaching that Jesus is the Christ, God’s anointed one who leads believers to forgiveness of their sins and eternal life.  That arouses murderous fury in some of the Jews who hear his preaching.  As Stephen’s about to be executed by stoning, he completes his Christian testimony

-- by proclaiming that Jesus is glorified at the Father’s side,

-- by forgiving his killers just as Jesus did,

-- and by handing over his spirit to God, as Jesus did.

So Stephen gives us example of Christian life:  to keep our eyes on the eternal life that Jesus promises, to forgive those who offend us, and to put ourselves completely into God’s hands.  Many followers of Jesus risk their freedom and even their lives to do that, e.g., in Hong Kong and the rest of China; in Nigeria, where Islamists terrorize the disciples of Jesus; and in other places.

In the U.S. and Canada, our lives aren’t in danger, but there are believers who risk their livelihoods because of their faith:  bakers and florists and photographers who refuse to endorse homosexual behavior, doctors and nurses who refuse to participate in abortion, pharmacists who refuse to fill abortion prescriptions.

But for us, less threatened in that regard, it’s still a daily challenge to live each moment focused on Jesus Christ, to see him in our minds “standing at the right hand of God,” and then to make decisions based on Jesus’ teaching and example rather than on our own laziness, selfishness, intellectual pride, or unwillingness to forgive.

Stephen’s last recorded words are, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (7:60).  He echoes Jesus’ words from the cross, “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).  Jesus’ death conveyed to all human beings God’s forgiveness even tho the sins of all of us are responsible for his death.  Stephen unites himself to Jesus in his death and imitates Jesus in forgiveness.

We find it hard to forgive.  Yet, how many of us have been as injured by our relatives or anyone as Stephen was injured by the men stoning him to death?  Not to mention as Jesus was injured by those who condemned him to crucifixion?  Can we not ask God to pardon everyone who has hurt us, even tho we are truly hurting (as Jesus and Stephen were hurting, of course)?  Can we not ask God to touch with his grace the hearts of whoever has hurt us?  Can we not ask God to soften the hardness of our own hearts?

Stephen’s prayer for the forgiveness of his killers wasn’t without effect.  Acts notes the presence “of a young man named Saul” at the execution (7:58), too young to take an active part in the murder, and entrusted instead to secure the killers’ garments.  But, ominously, the next verse after our passage this morning records, “Now Saul was consenting to his execution” (8:1).

Acts will go on to report Saul’s later career as a violent persecutor of Christians:  he “was trying to destroy the Church; entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment” (8:3) and even death (26:10).  And then Acts will tell us how Saul’s anti-Jesus fervor was turned around entirely and how he became the apostle Paul.  Stephen’s prayer was very effectively heard in the case of the “young man named Saul.”  Our prayers that people be forgiven, that hearts be converted, may also be heard by the Father, the master of hearts.  So we can pray for individuals who’ve hurt us, for international criminals who wage unjust wars, for politicians who call for more and more blood to be spilled in our nation’s abortion clinics.

Stephen gave his spirit over to Jesus as he was being killed, as Jesus died entrusting his spirit to his Father (Luke 23:46).  Complete trust in God in life and in death was a trait of Stephen.  In the challenging moments of our lives, we can imitate him, praying, for example, “Jesus, I trust you,” or paraphrasing St. Paul, “God can turn this problem or this evil into something good.”  We can always remind ourselves that, despite any horrors in this world, God has our ultimate interest in his hands—our eternal welfare.  Nothing in this world can take us out of God’s hands, out of his care.

The last verse of the reading tells us that Stephen “fell asleep” (7:60).  Stephen and every follower of Jesus who has departed this world is at rest, waiting to be re-awakened on the Last Day, when the Lord Jesus will return and all the just will enjoy, body and soul, everlasting life.  “I believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.”