"Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed upon him together. They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him.
Today
is the feast of Saint Stephen, Protomartyr, the first martyr after
the death and glorious resurrection of Christ to witness to him unto
the shedding of his blood. Saint Stephen's death this close,
the very next day after, the birth of the Savior, teaches us why this
child was born. He was born to be THE Martyr, the Witness of
the Father's love by shedding his blood on the Cross. Yes, God
wants us to rejoice and enjoy the glow of the manger scene, but not
have illusion whatsoever about this little child.
He was born
in a town called Bethlehem, which means in Hebrew house of bread, and
placed in a manger, where animals eat, so that it would be very clear
that he is for us a sacrificial victim, which feeds and nourishes
us. He is our Eucharist. It is sacrificial love that
nourishes a soul, the sacrifice of a mother sheltering her baby from
the cold, the sacrifice of a man who lays his life down for his
friends that truly feeds the human heart with the love that it longs
for. Saint Stephen is a good companion to the child we see in
Bethlehem, because his example feeds us with strength of soul to
witness to the identity of the child.
Do we need strength
today? When rights of babies in the womb are not respected and
treated as intruders unworthy of the protection of law? When
the sacred institution of marriage is threatened by all sorts of
abominable distortions of the one-man, one-woman irrevocable
covenanted union? When government leaders have the temptation
like King Herod to seek to destroy Christ, to trample upon the
commandments of God and rub out the name of God in our public
institutions, schools, and communities?
We need courage.
Where does courage come from? Saint Stephen teaches us the
answer. He gazed upon Christ seated at the right hand of the
Father. Prayer - we need to find strength from the experience
of being loved that can only come from frequent, intense, and
profound contact with God through prayer, especially the source,
summit, and center of Christian prayer, the holy sacrifice of the
Mass.
The Christmas Octave should be a time of profound prayer
and silence, of powerful joy-filled communion with Jesus Christ.
We should be overcome and swept up with his tiny littleness, the
vulnerability, innocence, all clothed in divine Power and
Perfection. This mystery ought to make our hearts strong and
courageous. We ought to therefore be given the confidence which
makes us, as it says in the Gospel, "not worry about how you are
to speak or what you are to say" when it comes to situations
that threaten the very basic core of a Christian culture.
The
rest of the Christmas Octave shows us different dimensions of
closeness with this mystery. The feast of Saint John the beloved,
who placed his head upon the breast of the Redeemer; the feast of the
H0ly Innocents, who suffered and unknowingly witnessed to the
Innocent One like the victims of abortion today; Saint Thomas Becket
who defied the government of the day in favor of the divine Governor;
the Holy Family who lived in intimate communion with Christ; and
finally the Mother of God, who worshiped in intimate tenderness the
Infant-God with love beyond all telling. All of these feasts
should show us a sweet closeness to the Christ child, that ought to
give us a Christmas courage, eloquence in defending life, and a
renewed sense of being children of the Eternal God.
May the prayers of Saint Stephen, Saint John the beloved, the Holy Innocents, Saint Thomas Becket, good Saint Joseph, and especially the Holy Mother of God, obtain for us many graces this Christmas Octave.
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