May 29, 2022
“They threw him out of the city and began to stone him. 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 had said this he fell asleep.”
We find two important persons in the selection from the Acts of the Apostles. Saul the persecutor and Stephen the deacon martyr. Perhaps the witness of Stephen was the first step for Saul's conversion. He was going to persecute Christians and met the Lord on the road to Damascus. As he watched, perhaps he heard the words of Stephen. The words of Stephen echo two of the traditional last words spoken by Jesus from the cross.
May we find such expressions in our daily lives, seeking and offering forgiveness for the hurts and bruises which afflict us. May we have the courage to turn our lives over to the Lord daily, and repeat this dedication as we draw our last breath. Forgiveness and resignation to God's will as both gifts as well as wishes. The recently canonized St. Charles de Foucauld's prayer of abandonment speaks of resignation to the will of God.
by Rev. William J. Reilly