"Then the Lord said to him, "Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is the holy ground." — Acts 7:33 (NRSV)
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
In today's reflection, we have the passage about the speech given by St. Stephen after his arrest in front of the High Priest in the Sanhedrin. His speech reminds the Jewish leaders about their failure to recognize Jesus Christ as the Messiah. The Jews did not appreciate the salvation provided by Jesus Christ.
God has been always so good to the humanity and he did at the right time what is to be done. He chose St. Stephen as a role model of all of us. This particular long speech of Stephen has not only created more anger against him by the Jews but even it leads to his martyrdom. This passage also reminds us that when we stand for truth and justice, we will have to face many difficulties and challenges which can even cause our death.
It is God who gives us the task and we as his instruments need to accomplish this task with utter humility. When I reflected deeply on this passage, I too realized that even I behave sometimes same like the Jews, not able to recognize the presence of Christ in my life. Jesus Christ is the true savior of my life but sometimes I am not able to appreciate the works of salvation he does in my life.
I realize that unless I accept Jesus Christ as the true savior of my life, I wont be able to receive the eternal life. I need to hold on to Christ and his teachings and values. His works of salvation to save my soul will be accomplished only if I co-operate with Him. Jesus can work wonders in my life only when I am with him and for him. I also feel that Jesus can do this task even with the help of others. The people around me that I live with can be the task masters in the hands of Christ. I need to surrender myself completely in the hand of God with deep humility. The moment I surrender myself to Him, I will be able to feel His presence all around me and within me. Through this I can also experience lot of peace and happiness.
As Jesus saves my soul, it is also my responsibility to save my neighbor's soul. I need to be like that of St. Stephen who could face the crowd with confidence and strong faith even in the midst of persecution. He did not waver even a little but stood strong in his belief and convictions and even at the moment of facing death he remained as a strong witness of the love of Christ. It's not an easy task for me but rather challenging but with the strong faith and deep trust in God I can overcome all the difficulties. May God Bless us all with strong faith.
Reflection on Acts 7: 1-53 by Fr. George Joseph SVD
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