I never realized how much St. Stephen was the man until after my reversion. Reading through Acts for the first time I felt a certain pride in sharing my name with a man who was so bold in the face of persecution. His martyrdom represents somewhat of a paradox in that Stephen, who the apostles anointed so that they themselves would not have to neglect the Word of God, through his holiness upsets those around him so much that he becomes the protomartyr of the Church. While the apostles who are going about preaching, it is Stephen, a man chosen to attend to the poorer members of the community, whose witness to the Gospel is more than the community can handle. His life is a reminder that regardless of our vocation, we are all called to a radical holiness that both comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.
Today as we reflect on the stoning of St. Stephen and continue our journey through the Acts of the Apostles I hope this portion of “A sermon, a narrative, a prayer” on the martyrdom of Stephen by 20th century Russian composer Igor Stravinsky can help you enter more deeply into this historic event in the life of the Church.
St. Stephen, pray for us.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://ignitumtoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Steven-Lawson-e1313151202718.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Steven Lawson is a newly married young adult living in the Diocese of Buffalo NY. After a reversion from agnosticism during a semester working in NYC, he felt called to ministry in the Church and left his dream since youth of working in film and animation. Steven is the founder of Why I’m Catholic, a website designed to bring Catholic conversion stories to the web 2.0, specifically to young adults. During the day Steven works on iCatholicRadio (the first dedicated Catholic radio application for Apple and Android mobile devices) and various other new media outreaches for The Station of the Cross Catholic Radio. [/author_info] [/author]
5 thoughts on “In honor of St. Stephen”
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Steve when I returned to the Church after many years, I had never been confirmed. Since St Francis of Assisi had been very intrumental in my re-conversion (I refuse to use the word reversion lol) I wanted him as my patron, but as a young person I was planning on St Stephen. End result was “Stephen Francis” and so you and I share a name and a patron saint. You wrote briefly something very nice in honor of our patron, as well as the You Tube video, and it pretty much tells it all and powerfully. Thanks as always. May he pray for each of us today.
Just wanted to say that as a still new-ish Catholic (entered the Church last year), the discovery of Acts 6:8 in college was one of the seeds planted in my distant agnostic past that grew to bear fruit in the present. I admit, there’s a touch of vanity at work: as a Stephen, how could I not be drawn to the line, “And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.”? I came back to that passage again and again over the years, and in some ways it was Stephen, therefore, who invited me to read more and more of the Bible. I was given a St. Stephen medallion for my confirmation which I wear often, but I’ve been especially mindful of wearing it this week when he’s been the focus of the readings. Thanks for this post! (And thanks for “Why I’m Catholic” — I’ve read it often!)
@Richard: I’m proud to share my namesake with you. We will only see on the other side how St. Stephen as our patron interceded for us in our lives
@Stephen: Thank you for sharing the impact St. Stephen had on your own conversion. I remember thinking the same thing when I read that line after my reversion, it seemed to have so much power. It’s interesting how God uses specific verses to speak to different people. There is a priest I know who I think could be a living saint and it was reading the prologue to John that convinced him in his heart that God was real. God spoke to his heart in a similar way to the way God spoke to both of our hearts reading about our patron. Thank you for the positive feedback regarding the site, if your ever interested in sharing your testimony send me an email editor(at)whyimcatholic.com.
I’ll be praying for both of you at Mass today.
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