“They could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.”

Today we are going to focus our prayers on Stephen, the first martyr, the first martyr, the man full of faith and the Holy Spirit whom the community chose to serve their brothers and sisters. And again, we found human problems in the community: some, attached to Jewish traditions, “could not cope with the wisdom and spirit with which Stephen spoke.” When the truth of the Gospel cannot be directly combated, recourse is sought in slander and defamation. And the hardest thing in this case is to observe that those who recur to slander and defamation, do so in the name of the very faith they are fighting. Any resemblance to the reality we live in the Church today is not mere coincidence. The novelty of Jesus’ message, the unconditional love of God, is above all human calculation, above the narrow-mindedness of all times. Thanks be to God, his Spirit dwells and shines through in all those who humbly open themselves to his action, like Stephen and others we know and need our prayers today. Let us pray for them, for Pope Francis who, so often, asks us for prayers, let us pray for the Church.