martyria - 3rd week easter tuesday

Today we read from the Acts of the Apostles on the martyrdom of Stephen, one of the first seven deacons appointed by the apostles.  When Stephen was about to be martyred by the lynching mob, he looked up and saw the heavens opened and he exclaimed, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”  St Ephraem interpreted this vision of Stephen saying that Stephen was given courage to face his martyrdom by his vision of the glory of the Blessed Trinity.  Before dying a martyr’s death Stephen was already made to see the glorious and blessed vision which will be his reward because of his martyrdom.  Indeed martyrdom can only be faced with courage when we have come to know and believe what we will receive in return.  At the same time when Stephen was about to face his final test and suffer greatly and die, he was encouraged by the presence of Jesus.  Jesus was there in his suffering and pain.  Jesus was there to give him courage and hope.

Today let us talk about martyrdom.  A Christian has three duties.  The first duty is liturgia – a Christian has the duty to honor, praise and glorify God by his worship and by living a holy life.  When we pray, when we go to mass, when we receive the sacraments, when we live holy and prayerful lives, we fulfill our first duty, liturgia.

The second duty is diakonia – service.  We have the duty to love and to express this through service. When we work and sacrifice for our family, when we serve in church, when we work in our offices not just for pay, when we go the extra mile, when we help the poor, when we send a poor child to school, when we feed the hungry and visit those in prison we do our second duty - diakonia.

The third duty is martyria – to bear witness to the faith.  We have the duty to teach the faith to our children, to teach the faith to our neighbors, to people who work for us.  Remember an important spiritual work of mercy – to instruct the ignorant.   When we volunteer as catechists for the flores de mayo, when we defend our faith in front of people who malign it, when we are honest even if others are not, when we speak the truth even if others do not, then we are doing our 3^rd duty – martyria – to bear witness.  But we must remember that bearing witness is not just in words but even more so through our examples.  St Ephraem said commenting on the witness of Stephen in our first reading today said -No example is more useful for the instruction of the people of God than that of the martyrs. Eloquence is effective for entreating, argument for convincing; but examples are worth more than words, and it is better to teach by deeds than by
speech.  St. Francis of Assisi is more direct when he said, Preach the gospel, if necessary use words.  I believe that the conversion of St. Paul did not just happen on the road to Damascus.  I believe it happened even as early as the martyrdom of Stephe,n when those who stoned Stephen laid their cloaks at the feet of Paul.  He saw Stephen stoned and that witnessing by Stephen must have been disturbing to Paul and at the same time gut wrenching and powerful.

Martyria – we have the duty to bear witness.  The highest act of bearing witness is to shed blood for what we believe.  And this is what Stephen had done and what St. Paul would do later. 

Many are once more shedding their blood for the faith especially in Muslim lands these days – people who are murdered because of their faith.  But I believe there are those among you here who are doing the same thing, perhaps not in a bloody manner, but nevertheless entailing the same difficulty and hardships.  When people ostracize you because you do not steal, you cannot be bribed, you are honest in all your dealings, then you are a martyr – you bear witness to the value of honesty and truth.  When I as a priest feel lonely and suffer the reality that I will grow old alone, I am a martyr because I bear witness to my celibacy, to my faith that God will take care of me.  When catholic doctors stand up for what the church teaches about human life or about sexuality, when they do so even against the counsel of their peers, they are martyrs because they bear witness to their faith in the value and sacredness of human life.

Martyria means to bear witness – do you bear witness to your catholic faith as Stephen did?