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Surely most of us remember Erma Bombeck. Her words often could lift us from whatever was weighing heavily upon our shoulders. These words that follow speak much about St. Stephen, the first of martyrs after the death of Jesus.
When I stand before God at the end of my life,
I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left,
and could say,
'I used everything you gave me.'
We respond to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit in different degrees. Some of us have excellent hearing. Others are not so gifted. Today's saint, Stephen, was a man who gave all he had to being a follower of Jesus. He must have been quite the person to encounter: "St. Luke describes him, in the Acts of the Apostles, as "filled with grace and power, (was) working great wonders and signs among the people." Opponents challenges his preaching and teaching but (again from Acts) "they could not withstand the wisdom and spirit which he spoke." His presentations so enraged the opponents that they "threw him out of the city, and began to stone him." The opponents just couldn't hear whereas Stephen heard so very well and was committed to his God.
Recently I wrote about a young man whose aorta ruptured during a heart procedure. More than ten minutes were required to make a restructured vessel because of the deterioration in the aorta. John's doctors eventually determined that he was in a permanent vegetative state.
Today, while distributing Holy Communion, John's dad, Bob, came forward to receive the Eucharist but first said: "Father, he's no longer in a vegetative state. Pope John Paul is helping us."
On one of my visits to John, I entrusted a zuchetto (the small white cap the Pope wears) that Pope John Paul had worn to Bob. It is a gift I truly treasure. When Bob told me that the doctors felt that only a miracle would work, I brought the zuchetto to him and suggested that he put it on John's head and pray to Blessed John Paul II for his intercession on John's behalf.
John's dad is truly a man who determined to listen to every opportunity from the Holy Spirit for his son. Each day he places the zucetto on John's head and prays to the great Pope for his intercessory help. At the same time he has been so clearly willing to accept whatever John's future might be. But he, too, believes that Christmas is a season of miracles. In a way we might see that there is no way of restricting the power of God.
