grace and power

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59 Psalm 31:3-4, 6, 8, 17 Matthew 10:17-22

Acts 6:8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

Stephen did great works, but is was in the grace and power of Christ. There are many that try to convince us that they are doing great works for God, but they have no signs indicating that they have the grace and power of God. We can easily confuse worldly success with grace and power. If someone can raise great amounts of money or attract many followers it is easy for us to think that they are doing the work of God. But those things are not necessarily signs of God's grace and power because many earthly false leaders can do that as well.
The signs of God's grace we what we need to look for in leaders, but even more than that we need to look for them in our own lives and not try to manufacture them ourselves.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to see with wisdom your grace an power and not to confuse them with my own prideful attempts.

Amen