Daily Mass - Monday of the third week of Easter

Mass was offered this morning for the repose of the soul of Lilly Yore (+), may she be blessed. The people of the parish are constantly remembered, of course, at Mass and during hours of prayer. As the lectionary fumbles its way through the Acts of the Apostles, today we hear about the first Christian martyr, Saint Stephen. Today's first readings tells us about the great success of the Christian message in the Holy Land and says, astonishingly, that 

"...many of the priests had given their allegiance to the faith." - Acts 6: 7

This means that some of the Sadducees of the Temple had seen the light and joined themselves to the ranks of the Christians. I wonder... could some of them have been ordained priests by the Apostles, and so become priests of both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant? But then comes the description of the influential character of Stephen. The engraced Stephen, the hated Stephen. They could not match him in wisdom (oh, the frustration!), as Saint Luke says, and they tried to catch him out as a blasphemer. Sound familiar? They did the same to Christ.

"Stephen, full of grace and power, performed great miracles and signs among the people. There were those who came forward to debate with him, some of the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it is called), and of the Cyreneans and Alexandrians, and of those who came from Cilicia and Asia; but they were no match for Stephen’s wisdom, and for the Spirit which then gave utterance. Thereupon they employed agents to say they had heard him speaking blasphemously of Moses, and of God." - Acts 6: 8-11

Before the Council, Stephen faced the same treatment as was given his Lord, complete with false witnesses and the old accusation, that Christ would destroy the Temple that Herod built. Tomorrow, the first reading continues with chapter six of Acts and Stephen's defence of Christianity, his quick commendation and his execution by stoning. As he began his defence, the Council saw his face to have the likeness of an angel (Acts 6: 15); that is the cliffhanger at the end of chapter six. What rage can cause men to stone such a being as this?