Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter
Every year during Easter, we read from the Acts of the Apostles for the first readings at Mass. And, in this practice we see a beautiful parallel between Christ Jesus and life of his Church. Just as we recall Christ’s Passion and Resurrection, so too we hear how the members of the early Church proclaimed and lived that same paschal mystery by word and deed.
In the first reading today, we see this dynamic taking place in the figure of St. Stephen. In the account of his death, Stephen bears a remarkable similarity to Christ. In the face of his persecutors, Stephen says, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them,” just as Christ on the cross prayed for his persecutors. Similarly, Stephen cried out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” just as Jesus on the cross commended his spirit to the Father. This striking parallel is no coincidence: The follower of Christ will look like Christ.
But, at times the task of imitating Christ can seem daunting as we might question ourselves, saying, “How could I ever live up to such a demand?” Well, in order to dispel this doubt, God and the Church give us so many examples of holiness in the saints. In them, we see witnesses of different men and women reliving that paschal mystery of Christ in their own unique way. And so, just as God gave them the capacity to imitate Christ Jesus, the Lord will also give us the ability to imitate Christ. At the time of his conversion, St. Ignatius drew confidence from the examples of the saints, saying to himself, “If St. Francis did it, so can I; if St. Dominic did it, so can I.” Well, we too can say about the saints, “If they could imitate Christ in holiness, with God’s help so can I.”