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Source: Vatican News
During today’s Angelus, on the feast of Saint Stephen, Pope Francis urged Christians to bear witness to faith in Christ, repaying evil with good and breaking the cycle of hatred with love.
Speaking from the Library of the Apostolic Palace, the Pope said that Saint Stephen was the first person to bear witness to Jesus with his life, making him the first Christian martyr, which means “witness.”
Esteban was “the first of a multitude of brothers and sisters who even today continue to bring light to darkness …” These men and women do not succumb to violence, but break the chains of hatred with meekness and love. “In the nights of the world, these witnesses bring the dawn of God,” he said.
Pope Francis said that Saint Stephen shows the way for all other Christians, which is to “imitate Jesus.” However, the Pope added, one might wonder: “Are these witnesses to goodness really necessary when the world is full of evil?” The first reading of the day (Acts 6: 8-10; 7: 54-59) offers the answer in a little detail, he said.
As Esteban was dying from his injuries, he prayed that God would forgive his murderers. “The text says that among those for whom Stephen prayed and whom he forgave was ‘a young man named Saul’, who ‘was consenting to his death.’
Saul, the Pope pointed out, would become Paul, the greatest missionary in history. “Paul was born by the grace of God, but through Esteban’s forgiveness, his testimony. That was the seed of his conversion. This is the proof that loving actions change history.”
Even small acts of love can change the course of history, said the Pope, because God “guides history through the humble courage of those who pray, love and forgive.”
Pope Francis said that we too can make a difference through the ordinary events of daily life.
“We are called to bear witness to Jesus right where we live, in our families, at work, everywhere,” he said, “even just by giving the light of a smile and fleeing the shadow of gossip and gossip.”
He also offered advice. Instead of complaining when we see something wrong, we should pray for the person who made the mistake.
“Saint Stephen, while receiving the stones of hatred, reciprocated with words of forgiveness. This is how history changed.”
Each of us, Pope Francis said, can turn evil into good when we return love through hatred.
He went on to ask everyone to pray for the many Christians who face persecution for their faith in Jesus: “We entrust these brothers and sisters to the Virgin Mary, so that they respond with meekness to the oppression and that, as true witnesses of Jesus , they could overcome evil with good. “
Tags: Pope Francis, Angelus, Martyrs, Saint Stephen, Apostolic Palace Library
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