Seventh Sunday of Easter, 2025

In his autobiography, Pope Francis wrote, “In the 1920s, Henry Ford, the man who revolutionized the automobile, was [merciless] in his criticism of the ‘spineless’ youth of his time, describing them as mindless and lazy…These same young people would later be celebrated as ‘the Greatest Generation,’ because it was they who survived the Great Depression and came out victorious, as well as paying the price with enormous sacrifices during World War II.”

The Pope continued to write: “We Christians must live in the awareness that our best days are yet to come. And we must strive, we must play our part so far as it is within…our abilities, for this to happen…Christians are not those with a ‘great future behind them;’ theirs is an anxious nostalgia for the future.”


He then writes, “Be sure of it: The deepest, happiest, most beautiful reality for us, for those we love, has yet to come. Even if some statistic tells you the opposite…Pray with these words…: The best wine has yet to be served.”


…In today’s first reading, Saint Stephen, one of the first deacons, and the first martyr of the Catholic Church, sees the most amazing vision of Jesus as he was experiencing the worst moment of his life: Rocks were about to meet his head, and he sees the most beautiful vision in front of him.

…In the present, he was about to suffer and die, but in front of him; ahead of him; he sees his future with Jesus in Heaven.


And, so, Saint Stephen endures the worst thing he was ever to endure with extraordinary grace.


And it wasn’t because Stephen was a superhuman that he was able to forgive the people who were about to kill him, rather, it was because God supplied him the grace and Stephen accepted that grace.


Because Stephen was able to see, by the grace of God, what lie ahead for him, he very bravely endured the suffering in his present moment.


Saint Stephen didn’t say, “Oh, you evil, awful people. The world is going to be so much worse now that you are doing this. There is no hope for anybody anymore.” No. Almost oblivious, or blind, to the threats around him, he says, “I see Jesus in front of me!”


…Jesus is in front of you…Our Christian identity demands that we see in front of us great hope; not despair; not gloom and doom; but hope: And His name is Jesus. And He supplies this hope because He is the God of hope who saves us even amidst our gravest of situations.



Scripture readings for this day: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060125-Sunday.cfm

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