On Ascension Thursday, the scripture reminded us not to waste our time living a “telescope faith” by looking for the Risen Lord in the sky. Reiterating what Isaiah prophesied about him as we heard on Christmas Eve, “He shall be named ‘Emmanuel,’ which means ‘God is with us’,” the Risen Lord told His disciples immediately prior to His ascension into Heaven, “I will be with you…until the end of time.”
In short: The Risen Lord isn’t to be found “up there” but “right here,” not “above us” but is “with us.”
Today’s scripture seemingly contradicts all that, telling us how St. Stephen—who was filled with the Holy Spirit—“looked intently up to Heaven and saw the glory of God with Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”
We were then told about the people who apparently didn’t want to hear any of that. Crying out in a loud voice, the people covered their ears and rushed upon St. Stephen. They then threw him out of Jerusalem and stoned him to death for blasphemy. Immediately prior to breathing his last—and reiterating what Jesus said from the Cross has he breathed his last—St. Stephen called out “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” and “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
Through his witness as a disciple and in his manner of death, St. Stephen imitated Jesus and is honored as the first Christian martyr.
The story of St. Stephen’s martyrdom doesn’t contradict the Christmas Eve prophecy or what the Risen Lord told his disciples immediately before ascending into Heaven. Confronting his immanent death, St. Stephen—just like the crucified Jesus—turned his complete attention to Heaven, abandoned himself to God, and then evidenced the highest form of love possible for any human being: To forgive others for their sins.
St. Stephen’s death represented the culmination of a life of modeling what it means for disciples in any generation to be “WOKE” Catholics. Between the time St. Stephen was baptized and his martyrdom, he took seriously the Risen Lord’s commission prior to His ascension into Heaven when He said:
Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Sadly, “sleepy” Catholics don’t take this commission seriously. For them, Baptism and Confirmation were rituals that transpired in the distant and forgotten past and are completely disjointed from how “sleepy” Catholics live each day. Seeking not to live for God, they live instead for the crowd and do everything in their power to accommodate, compromise, get along, and fit in with whatever the crowd demands of them. Worse “sleepy” Catholics feel absolutely no compunction about this choice, perhaps even feeling good about and celebrating it when the crowd sends accolades their way and they enjoy popularity.
Yet, for the crowd to accept them, “sleepy” Catholics must prize the opinions and feelings of others above God’s revealed truth, promote their individual self-interest above the common good, and be tolerant rather than do what faith, hope, and love require. If they don’t, “sleepy” Catholics fear they will be rejected as the people in the crowd cover their ears, unwilling to hear what these baptized and confirmed Catholics would have to say if they had a healthy sense of “fear of the Lord” rather than “fear of the crowd.” Longing to be just like everyone else rather than to be the unique person God created “sleepy” Catholics to be, they’ve cast to the side of the road their hearts and souls.
St. Stephen’s witness has provided Catholic across the past two millennia a warning to avoid falling fall into that trap. Living a “WOKE” Catholic faith, St. Stephen would have none of that nonsense, striving to walk the pathway of holiness instead—to be “other than” and “different from” the world around him. St. Stephen heeded Jesus’ command at the Last Supper—“do this, in memory of me”—just as you and I have been commissioned by the Risen Lord to “do this, in memory of me,” by making a meaningful sacrifice of our lives…in perfect imitation of Jesus…modeling for others holiness of life.
Like St. Stephen, as you and I center our days in God, we become holy as God is holy.
Preparing for the Solemnity of Pentecost, for our memento mori this week I’d invite you to contemplate all those nameless and faceless people in the crowd. Recall that not one of them is remembered as an individual but only as a member of a “crowd”—and a murderous mob at that. Each refused to listen to St. Stephen’s testimony and, as it ended up, died not as individuals whose lives “added value” to humanity but as anonymous “nobody’s” whose mediocrity, in retrospect, rendered their lives worthless to the crowds of people who live in, of, and for this world.
Contemplating those people, reconsider the crowds of which you have sought to belong whether in the past or currently, whose members are nameless, faceless, and anonymous individuals unknown to anyone but the crowd’s members. That is, until the crowd goes home, its power erodes, and ultimately come to nothing. It doesn’t matter which crowd you consider because all that matters is the realization of the fear being excluded from that crowd were you to witness to the truth of your Catholic faith. Then, consider where membership in this crowd ultimately will end: You and I will die not as individuals—like St. Stephen—whose lives have “added value” to humanity. Instead, we will die as anonymous “nobody’s” whose lives history will be condemned to the dustbin of nothingness…as if we never existed.
Today’s scripture readings remind us that our days are best spent striving to become holy and doing what holiness of life truly requires: Not living for ourselves but to evangelize those nameless, faceless, and anonymous folks in the crowd who have have tossed their hearts and souls to the side of the path because they live for the crowd rather than for God and, in the end, will have added no value to humanity. For “sleepy” Catholics, there are no alibis for compromising their faith with the crowd and for “WOKE” Catholics—because they really believe in God the Father Almighty and Creator heaven and earth—there will be no alibis for not witnessing to their faith with the courage of St. Stephen. Our goal is to be members of a crowd whose members across history strove to live not for this world but for the next: the “communion of saints.”
Also, tomorrow is Memorial Day, the day each year when the people of our nation decorate the graves and tombs of those members of the U.S. military over the centuries who distinguished themselves as individuals and, like St. Stephen, paid the “highest price” for what they believed. They had faith—that God, family, and country were greater and more important than themselves—which transformed them into witnesses of that faith.
Many fellow citizens today view this holiday as an opportunity to sleep in for three days, to shop and take advantage of sales, and perhaps to enjoy a barbecue on the patio. Yet, the issue of faith is the heart of the holiday. Whether that faith is placed in our nation’s and its values or the Church and the theological virtues—and the ideal is both!—only a lived faith transforms people into individual human beings whose memories live in history for the reason they have added value to humanity.
This matter is all too easily forgotten by all too many people who live for the crowd not their faith. Yet, history reminds us they will disappear and for a very good reason: It’s called the mediocrity of living down to the lowest common denominator. This lifestyle is the antithesis of what God has created each of us to become from all eternity and continues to speak it in the silence and yearnings of the heart.
For their part, “WOKE” Catholics strive to recall the great honor and responsibility bestowed upon them at their baptism and confirmation. They enthusiastically and courageously witness to their faith that “God is with us” by devoting themselves to proclaim the gospel by being Emmanuel for others, as St. Stephen and our nation’s heroes and heroines did.
As Jesus prayed for us:
Holy Father, I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word….that the world may believe you sent me.
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