NOTES for Act 6:8-10
On the first day after Christmas, the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Stephen, the first martyr. It is no accident that his feast is the first after Christmas. Stephen was the first to follow the path of Jesus all the way to the end—to death. It is the path of complete self-giving, of complete self-forgetfulness. And look at what happens when Stephen speaks of his vision. Those around him stop their ears. Surely this is not merely the pious desire of devout traditionalists to protect their ears from what they regard as blasphemy. They sense an unknown power in Stephen's words. Those words could change something in their hearts... and so they stop their ears and stop him—in the only way they know how.
For us, perhaps, it is important to reflect on our own response to a word addressed to us. Do we not sometimes feel a powerful urge to stop our ears?