Thursday, December 26, 2024

Feast of Saint Stephen, first martyr

(Acts 6:8-10,7:54-59; Matthew 11:17-22)

The world is surprised to know that Christmas is not Christianity’s most important feast day.  The three-day Paschal celebration surpasses it like Thanksgiving betters Veterans Day in November.  The Church indicates this fact by placing the Feast of St. Stephan, the first Christian martyr, on the day following the Nativity of the Lord.

Christ was born as a human to justify humans for sins against their Creator.  The work might have been done in ways other than crucifixion and rising from the dead.  Yet by giving himself over to his persecutors, Jesus not only revealed the depth of human treachery but also the height of God’s love for the world.  As St. Stephen offers himself for similar mistreatment, he both fulfills Jesus’ prophecy in today’s gospel and joins him in the work of salvation.

Christmastide goes on despite today’s commemoration of a holy martyr.  However, we may take time to consider moderating our pleasures to reflect on our real happiness.  We will find that it is not so much celebration of the Lord’s birth as the eternal life he leads us to.

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Feast of Saint Stephen, first martyr

(Acts 6,8-10.7:54-59; Matthew 10:17-22)

Some might think the Church wants to limit people’s enjoyment when she sets the martyrdom of Stephan on the day after Christmas.  But the reason for this placement goes much deeper than prudishness.  The Church wants to remind everyone that Jesus became incarnate to atone for human sins.  His suffering and death secured human freedom from both the debt of and the attachment to sin.  This salvific sacrifice provides the greatest reason for rejoicing.

There are hints of Jesus’ martyrdom in both gospels that contain infancy narratives.  Matthew tells how Herod kills perhaps thousands of toddlers in pursuit of Jesus.  Luke will record Simeon making the prophecy that Jesus “will be a sign that will be contradicted.” In other words, Jesus’ offer of salvation will be brutally resented and rejected.

Christmas week is not Holy Week.  We don’t have to end our rejoicing over our Savior’s birth on December 26.  But we should keep in mind that faith entails more than singing Christmas carols and calling on Jesus’ name.  We must prepare ourselves for sacrifice in service of the Lord as we wait to experience all the fruits of his salvation.

Thursday, December 26, 2019

Feast of St. Stephen, Proto-martyr

 

(Acts 6:8-10.7:54-59; Matthew 10:17-22)

Some may think that the Feast of the Martyrdom of St. Stephen is celebrated today because Stephen was killed on December 26.  However, there is no record of the date of his martyrdom.  No, the Church celebrates Stephen’s martyrdom on the day after Christmas to temper Christian joy.  The martyrdom of Stephen reminds the faithful that Jesus was born to die on the cross to atone for their sins.  Not only that, but Christians are called to carry their crosses after him.

Of course, most Christians will die in bed like everyone else.  But they should not think that bloody martyrdom does not exist today.  It occurs thousands of times every year.  Perhaps this horrible truth was never better exhibited than almost five years ago.  The Islamic State aired a video then of its recent slaughter of twenty-one Christians in Libya.  Some people hate Christ and his followers because of his devotion to God, the Father.  They resent anyone who calls them to love and not lord it over others.

It is remarkable the way business slows down for a week or so during the Christmas season.  We are wise to use the leisure time, at least in part, for contemplation.  We need to ask ourselves, “How is it that God became human?”  There is a follow-up question almost as important, “What does the God-human now expect of me?”

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter

(Acts 7:51-8:1a; John 6:30-35)

Stephen’s speech can be heard as incendiary.  He accuses the Jewish leaders of not observing the Law.  But so did Jesus!  Indeed, Stephen’s actions quite closely imitate those of Jesus.  He too at his execution asks forgiveness for its perpetrators.  Like Jesus he dies commending his spirit to God.

Stephen’s exemplary behavior will have immense effect.  One of its witnesses, Paul of Tarsus, will do an about turn in his stand toward Jesus.  Evidently at the moment he finds Stephen’s words contemptible.  But in short time he will, like Stephen, give testimony to Jesus’ righteousness.  He too will suffer death for proclaiming Jesus as Lord.

There is plenty for us to imitate in Stephen’s story.  We should proclaim the Lord Jesus by our willingness to suffer for the truth.  Most of all, we should pray for our enemies, especially those who may persecute us. Then our lives also will attract others to Jesus’ righteousness.

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Feast of Saint Stephen, first martyr

(Acts 6:8-10.7:54-59; Matthew 10:17-22)

T.S. Eliot’s play Murder in the Cathedral tells the story of the martyrdom of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1170.  Half-way through the play, the archbishop delivers his Christmas sermon.  He tells the congregation that at Christmas mass not only the birth of Jesus is remembered but also his passion and death.  He adds that this dual remembrance indicates that the Christian life is neither pure joy nor pure sorrow.  Thomas goes on to ask, “Is it an accident … that the day of the first martyr follows immediately the day of the Birth of Christ?” Not at all, the Church deliberately places the martyrdom of Stephen on the day after Christmas to temper our celebration.  We must keep in mind that Jesus became human to sacrifice himself for others.

Unless people think that the dual sentiment is solely the invention of the Medieval Church, we can point to the same juxtaposition of elation and ominous sorrow in both Luke’s and Matthew’s Nativity accounts.  In Luke after Jesus is born his parents take him to the Temple.  There the holy man Simeon makes the foreboding prophecy that Jesus will be a sign to be contradicted.  In other words, Jesus will extend God’s love to people, but his offer will in some cases be brutally rejected.  In Matthew the horror is more evident.  Jesus’ birth occasions the jealousy of King Herod.  To eliminate his rival Herod has all male infants of the area two years or under murdered. 

We must take to heart the cross sentiments of Christian life.  Our happiest celebrations like a dear friend’s birthday should not ignore the fact that fellow humans are suffering often dire circumstances.  Similarly, our most intolerable burdens like the loss of a loved one should not go without faith in Christ’s victory over sin and death.  Christians are neither rosy-eyed optimists nor unrelenting pessimists.  No, we live both the death and the resurrection of the Lord deep in our hearts everyday.

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Memorial of Saint Athanasius, bishop and doctor of the Church

(Acts 7:51-8:1a; John 6:30-35)

When St. Francis of Assisi heard that some of his friars were enticing Muslims into killing them, he put a stop to the practice.  He insisted that the missionary norms of his order prohibit both using arms to force conversions and taunting Muslims to martyr missionaries.  One wonders if Stephen in today’s first reading should not have been prudent in this way.

Stephen is a Greek-speaking Jew.  He comes from the Diaspora with little stake in the Jerusalem temple.  His diatribe against it perhaps reflects the sentiment of his background.  More than that, Stephen is a fervent convert to Christ.  He no doubt harbors resentment for the people of Jerusalem for having executed Jesus.  His outburst deserves some response, but certainly stoning is uncalled for.

Stephen’s story presents us with a few lessons.  First, we want to imitate his zeal to tell others about Christ who is our comforter and helper.  Second, we want to avoid Stephen’s harshness.  More people will be drawn to Christ by reflecting his peace than by exhibiting Stephen’s fury.  Finally, and perhaps most importantly, like Stephen imitating Jesus, we want to forgive those who have offended us.  We should begin now so that we do not forget to do so at death.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter

(Acts 7:51-8:1a; John 6:30-35)

Stephen almost taunts his enemies to kill him.  He sounds like a zealot seeking martyrdom for earthly fame more than heavenly glory.  Jesus had measured criticism for the Pharisees that opposed him. Stephen on the other hand pulls no punches.  But in the end Stephen does conform himself to Jesus quite admirably.

As Stephen is being stoned, like Jesus he prays for his enemies.  Also like Jesus, Stephen entrusts his spirit to God although in his case it is the eternal Son.  God provides a final favorable comparison between Stephen and Jesus.  As Jesus’ death and resurrection ends with his disciples receiving the Holy Spirit to carry on his work, Stephen’s death ends in St. Paul taking note and eventually preaching the Lord Jesus in the Greek world.

God does not want us to seek martyrdom.  That would be both unnatural and foolish.  But God does want us to imitate Jesus’ willingness to forgive.  That involves a dying to self that is not unlike a martyr’s witness.

Monday, April 20, 2015

Monday of the Third Week of Easter

(Acts 6:8-15; John 6:22-29)

Stephen is a Greek-speaking Christian.  In the first reading today he debates, no doubt in Greek, Jews from Cyrene, a Greek city in modern Libya, and from Alexandria, the center of Greek wisdom in Egypt.  Not being from Jerusalem, Stephen has little allegiance to the Temple, the great institution that dominated Jewish life there.  He evidently speaks of the place as useless since Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice outside the city walls.  This kind of talk would be grating in the ears of any Jew, and it is especially so with those belonging to the Sanhedrin or ruling body of the city.  They will eventually have Stephen stoned to death.

If Jerusalem and its Temple are of little importance, something similar may be said of Rome and St. Peter’s Basilica.  True worship is made in Jesus Christ, the feast of whose body and blood can be celebrated anywhere.  Certainly Rome has come to signify the Vicar of Christ, but he might reside in another place as happened for most of the fourteenth century.  As magnificent as it is, St. Peter’s is destined for collapse.  It is the Eucharist that has eternal efficacy in reconciling us to God.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Feast of St. Stephen, proto-martyr

(Acts 6:8-10.7:54-59; Matthew 10:17-22)

“Is it an accident…,” St. Thomas Becket asks in his Christmas sermon according to playwright T.S. Eliot, “that the day of the first martyr follows immediately the day of the Birth of Christ?” Not at all, he goes on to say. Martyrdom is the design of God to draw humans back to the love which the birth of Christ reveals. In other words, the Church proposes today’s Feast of St. Stephen as a reminder that Christ was born to die out of love for the world.

Although many households take down their Christmas lights today and stores haul out Valentine decorations, the Church does not intend that people go back to life as usual. Rather, she wants to make them realize that they are being called deeper into the mystery of holiness which does not shun the world but seeks to sanctify it. Celebration at what is good and sorrow when good is thwarted by evil are two ways Christians show others God’s care for them. Christmas festivities will continue until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, but they will always be tempered by the understanding that material substances are readily corruptible while virtue lasts forever.

Homilette for Monday, April 27, 2009

Monday of the Third Week of Easter

(Acts 6:8-15; John 6:22-29)

Acts relates that Stephen and six other Hellenist Jews are ordained to bring food to Hellenist widows. However, it never describes them doing so. Rather, whatever else they do, Stephen and another Hellenist Jew, Philip, proclaim the word of God. It is not far-fetched, therefore, to think of their table ministry as involving the Eucharistic table. Perhaps they offered mass in the vernacular to meet the spiritual needs of Greek-speaking Jewish converts in Jerusalem.

Today’s first reading tells of Stephen being brought to the Sanhedrin because of his preaching. It says that false witnesses testify that he spoke of Jesus destroying the temple and changing Mosaic customs but never verifies these accusations. In his long polemic against the Jews that follows the statements, Stephen does say that God “does not dwell in houses made by human hands” – an obvious reference to the temple. Not only does Stephen speak forcefully then; he also represents a new trend within the early Church to move away from temple-centered Jerusalem to Greek-speakers with a universal spirituality.

As in the early Church with Stephen and the Hellenist Jews, the evangelizing Spirit is moving the contemporary Church to new frontiers. The new frontiers, however, are in many cases long-Christian countries that have lost their dynamism. In the United States we witness the energy of immigrants from Mexico and Latin America, from Vietnam and the Philippines, from Africa and Poland packing otherwise half-empty Catholic churches with a welcome vigor. It is tempting to criticize the enthusiasm as simplistic, but a more honest appraisal might recognize it as the vibrant faith of the first believers in Christ.

Homilette for Monday, April 23, 2007

Monday, III Easter

(Acts 6)

A mother comes forth. “What do you do,” she asks, “when your daughter doesn’t listen to you?” The woman feels persecuted by her own family! Probably she is not an isolated case. We may not be threatened anymore with death from persecutors. But many are frustrated by the difficulty they have in passing on the faith to the next generation.

Stephen provides us with at least a hint of a response. He has the face of an angel because he does not become upset with those whom he is debating. He merely speaks to them the truth in love. In his gospel St. Luke, the author of the Acts of the Apostles as well, quotes Jesus twice as saying that when persecuted, his disciples are not to prepare an elaborate defense. No, Jesus will give them the necessary wisdom to proclaim.

In speaking to a younger generation on their obligations to God the best we can do is to be calm and gentle. Blinded by the dazzling lights of fame, fortune, and fun which our culture flashes at every turn, they may not be able to understand our desire to please God. Nor may they appreciate our fear of being separated from God. But how could they fail to be impressed if we tell them of our love for God and show it by treating them with respect? Along with our prayers, our words of love related with goodwill may turn rebellious youth into true believers.