LORD JESUS, Receive My Spirit

"Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.  Some persons then came forward, who belonged to the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen, from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia and Asia.  They argued with Stephen.  But they could not match the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.

When they heard this reproach, they were enraged; and they gnashed their teeth against Stephen.  But he, full of the Holy Spirit, fixed his eyes on heaven and saw the glory of GOD, and JESUS at GOD's right hand; so he declared: 'I see the heavens open, and the Son of Man at the right hand of GOD.'

But they shouted and covered their ears with their hands, and rushed together upon him.  They brought him out of the city and stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.  As they were stoning him, Stephen prayed saying: 'LORD JESUS, receive my spirit.'" - Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59 

Stephen, The First Martyr

(Being a Hellenist, Stephen did not share the blind faith of the Jewish people in their temple and its rituals.  He understood that the Church had to become free from the patterns of the past and move away from the Jews, if they refused to believe.

Stephen's long discourse before the Sanhedrin [the Great Council] is an outstanding summary of the Old Testament.  It emphasizes the increasing initiatives of GOD who calls, gives, promises, corrects and saves.  Confronting this untiring love is the permanent rebellion of Israel who despises GOD and rejects those HE sends.  The prophet Hosea, eight centuries before CHRIST, already expressed the drama of the rejected love of GOD by HIS people [Hosea 11:1-4].  Stephen proclaims it again: this drama reached its culmination when JESUS, the Son-of-GOD-made-man, was nailed to the cross [Acts 2:23; 3:15; 4:10].

Stephen dies as CHRIST did.  He becomes the first martyr [martyr means witness].  He is a witness to CHRIST because he proclaims HIM, but even more so because he does as CHRIST did, he forgives his murderers.

Like Peter after Pentecost, Stephen still hopes for a conversion of the Jewish people: a minority at least will be converted.  This hope will fade in time with the persecutions raised against the Church.  The murder of Stephen would be the first sign leading the converted Jews to understand that apostolic work must be undertaken beyond the frontiers of the Jewish fortress.)

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