So they said to Him,
"What can we do to accomplish the works of God?"
Jesus answered and said to them,
"This is the work of God, that you believe in the One He sent."
(John 6:28-29)
This is what Stephen had done. He believed in the only Son and the glory of God was manifested through him. We read in Acts that, "All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel."
(Acts 6:15)
Stephen had learned of Jesus through the preaching of the Church, a preaching that the Apostles initiated on Pentecost. Unlike the disciples and members of the crowd described in today's gospel passage, Stephen had not seen Jesus perform His signs. Rather, he is one of those we can think of when we read Jesus' words addressed to Thomas and the others on the day of the Resurrection, "Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."
Blessed is Stephen who heard the word of God and kept it. Blessed is he who cooperated with the work of God and believed in the one He sent.
Today, I ask to be blessed as one who hears the Word of God and keeps it.
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