Particular to Saints, perhaps Others

I would have liked to meet St. Stephen - or, Stephen, we will say, A deacon to the disciples. One of a few or many, perhaps. We do not know.

We know from Acts that Stephen was a deacon when the disciples of Christ were in Jerusalem, soon, or fairly soon, after the Ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit. According to the chronology of Acts, Stephen loudly proclaimed the Word - the Gospel - the person and trust of Jesus Christ - after the Disciples had been warned by the Jewish authorities to cease. For his efforts, Stephen was stoned. He dies and was thereby the first Christian Martyr.

St. Stephen was a punk, a trouble-maker, the kind of person who, when he feels it, says it, regardless of consequences. I feel it to be a grace that I belong to a church dedicated to St. Stephen, here in Portland. I really like St. Stephen.

I also like St. Joan of Arc. A lot. I carry a Holy Card for her in my wallet as a reminder of her, and to pray for intercession. Like St. Stephen, she was (according to accounts) a fearless believer, even unto death. If you can't admire such a woman as Joan of Arc, well, I can't help you.

Or, maybe I can.

If we can admire such women as Joan of Arc for their devotion, their sacrifice - the ultimate sacrifice in the name of our Lord - are we not obligated to consider all women in this light? It is critical to consider our obligations as we recognize and acknowledge such truths as a young woman dying for Christ. I don;t mean to consider women in merely an ideal light, but as with St. Stephen, to consider their lives and their sacrifices in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

I trust in the heart and faith of any woman that she loves as I love, as our Lord loved.

I believe and support any woman in the choices she makes in her life to live life as it should be lived, with joy, freedom, love.

I  ask of God that I respect women and care for their needs as I do my own, all the while aware of my own ignorance and prejudice.

I love and admire St. Stephen, St. Joan of Arc. But it does not stop there, does it? No, my obligations do not cease with specific endorsement or care. Respect and love cannot cease with the individual. One is carried in one's heart beyond the individual to humanity as a whole. To love and respect St. Stephen, St. Joan of Arc, is to admit to care for anyone, all persons, who love God as they loved God. Man and Woman, then as now, the human heart - that willingness, the Spirit - to love without reserve.

Saints Joan of Arc, Stephen - the innumerable Spirits and Guardians who accompany us - who are we to draw lines or differentiate? As a man or a women feels, considers, decides, believes. How does God operate? We cannot know as does God, and so are called.

To believe, defend, even unto death.