By: Alexander Albert, Deacon, Diocese of Lafayette
You know, I’ve always liked Stephen. Not this Stephen – I mean, he’s great too – but Saint Stephen, deacon and martyr. I’ve always liked him because he wasn’t afraid of an argument. Today we see him debating so well that his opponents “could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.” It will come as no surprise to anyone here, but I do enjoy a good argument. If you think I’m crazy, just think about how much everyone enjoyed the Faculty Symposium two weeks ago.
In the right circumstances, there are some good reasons to find a debate attractive. It allows people to put their intellect to the test. It helps people learn multiple ways of explaining their point. It is iron sharpening iron in a way that allows two or more people to come closer to some truth. Yet, if I’m honest… if we are honest with ourselves, there is one other reason to enjoy a good argument. We like to be right. And why not? Like a good meal, hearing those words “you are right” just leaves us feeling so satisfied… for a while at least.
But, just like a good meal, that satisfaction fades. It is for good reason that Jesus tells us “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life.” A person is only full for a while and it often happens that being “right” is just as fleeting. Just ask the Sanhedrin. Were they not “right” about the sacredness of the Temple and the importance of the Law of Moses? Who is this uppity deacon going on and on about a “new” temple and a “new” law? And what in the world is going on with his face?
Isn’t that an interesting detail at the end of the first reading? “His face was like the face of an angel.” Was it because Stephen was right and angels are never wrong? No, it is because, like the angels in heaven, Stephen was gazing upon the eternal light of Truth and Truth is “the food that endures for eternal life.” Like the Jewish Temple, being right is a merely temporary structure meant to house a much more lasting reality, Truth.
Of course, this doesn’t mean we stop arguing, debating, and even challenging others, always with Charity. On the contrary, seeking Truth is even more demanding. The Sanhedrin may have killed to prove that they were right, but Stephen died for the Truth. Are we willing to sacrifice our comfort, our entertainment, our social acceptance, or even our lives in pursuit of this Truth?
My brothers, I hope you’ll forgive me for the times that I was more interested in being right than in the Truth. Yet, I also hope that, by the grace of God, my own feeble pursuit of the Truth may encourage you in your striving. I pray that together now, and in the future, we may diligently follow the “way of Truth” and keep to the work given to each of us, which is the “work of God, that you believe in [really believe in and live for] the one he sent.”
About the Author: Alexander Albert, Deacon, Diocese of Lafayette
Deacon Albert is slated to be ordained in June as a priest for the Diocese of Lafayette. He often posts his homilies and other reflections on the culture at http://lumenest.blogspot.com/.
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