Feast of St. Stephen, Protomartyr
HOMING INSTINCT
“Behold,
I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right
hand of God…. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” – Acts 6:56, 59
My wife, Dinah, loves to doze off in the passenger seat while
I’m driving. All throughout the trip, she’ll sleep. But without fail,
whenever we arrive home, she miraculously wakes up. I call it her homing
instinct. Somehow, her body knows when she’s home.
The words above are the last words of the martyr saint Stephen right before he was stoned to death. All his life, his eyes
were fixed on the prize of heaven. He was determined to stand up for
his faith even at the cost of death, perhaps because he knew he didn’t
belong to this earth in the first place. He was a temporary visitor, as
all of us are, too. Because of that, he confidently knew he would go to
heaven — his home, where he truly belonged.
The Philosophy term a priori refers to a prior knowledge embedded in the deepest recesses of our being that we belong to God. That’s why when we sin, it doesn’t feel right. It may bring
momentary pleasure, but in the end, we somehow know that something is
wrong. It’s our homing instinct. And although we often go astray in this
life, I believe our inner compass will always lead us back to Him
because He is our true home.
George Tolentino Gabriel (george.svp@gmail.com)
Reflection: Are you at peace right now? Check your homing instinct.
Lord, when I stray away from You, may You always lead me back home to Your heart where I truly belong.
St. Stephen, Protomartyr, pray for us.
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