Today is May 6, Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter.
We read at today’s Mass, “When they heard this, they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him. But Stephen, 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” (Acts 7:54-55).
Today, we hear of St. Stephen’s heroic witness — his steadfast gaze fixed on heaven even as his enemies rage against him. That moment always brings me back to my recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Just this past Christmas, I had the incredible grace to visit St. Stephen’s, the Dominican monastery in Jerusalem that marks the site of his martyrdom. Standing there where the Church remembers his courageous witness was deeply moving.
As we hear this passage today, I’m reminded of the confidence we must have in the Holy Spirit, especially in times of uncertainty. Jesus tells us repeatedly not to be afraid — do not worry about what you are to say … the Holy Spirit will teach you. He promises that the Spirit will speak through us, guide the Church and lead us in truth.
A moment of discernment in the Church
That trust is particularly relevant in this moment of discernment for the Church, as the College of Cardinals prepares to elect the next successor to St. Peter. We must believe that the Holy Spirit is active — not just in the past — but now, animating the Church today. Just as Stephen was filled with the Spirit, so too will the one chosen to lead the Church be given the courage and clarity to speak truth with love.
It’s not that the truth is hard to understand — it hasn’t changed in 2,000 years. But preaching the truth in a world that resists it? That takes boldness. That takes grace. That takes the Holy Spirit.
So today, let us pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit — for our cardinals, for the Church and for ourselves — that we may speak and live the truth with the same fire that burned in the heart of St. Stephen.
Let us pray,
O God, who open wide the gates of the heavenly Kingdom to those reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, pour out on your servants an increase of the grace you have bestowed, that, having been purged of all sins, they may lack nothing that in your kindness you have promised. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
