Saint Stephen
One
Today, December 26th, we celebrate the martyrdom of St. Stephen.
Acts 6:8-10,7:54-59, “Stephen was filled with grace and power and began to work miracles and great signs among the people. But then certain people came forward to debate with Stephen, some from Cyrene and Alexandria who were members of the synagogue called the Synagogue of Freedmen, and others from Cilicia and Asia. They found they could not get the better of him because of his wisdom, and because it was the Spirit that prompted what he said. They were infuriated when they heard this and ground their teeth at him.
“But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. ‘I can see heaven thrown open’ he said, ‘and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ At this all the members of the council shouted out and stopped their ears with their hands; then they all rushed at him, sent him out of the city and stoned him… Then he knelt down and said aloud, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them'; and with these words he fell asleep.”
I have always found it striking, like a dissonant note, that we celebrate Christmas with the Angels proclaiming, “Peace on Earth” and the helpless little baby in the manger and the very next day we turn our focus to the violent martyrdom of St. Stephen.
How can the baby Jesus and the sacrifice of martyrdom be so closely linked?
Two
Christmas and the martyrdom of Stephen are joined together by love.
The virtue of love is to want or to do some good thing for some person, either for yourself or someone else. If I only do good for myself, then I am selfish. For love to be complete I must at times sacrifice what I want for the good of the other person. So, love includes sacrifice. In fact, if there is no sacrifice, it’s a pretty good indication that I only act for my good, my interests. This is why St. Maximilian Kolbe said, “Love lives and is nourished by sacrifices…there is no love without sacrifice.” (SK 503)
Therefore, love is selfless (we can’t just act for personal gain) and it involves sacrifice. It will cost you something.
God is love and his love for us is expressed most vividly at two moments: At Christmas when he lowered himself from Heaven to become a helpless little baby for our good and at Calvary when we had spurned his love by our ingratitude, pride, and disobedience, yet he took up his cross and poured out his life and love for us to death.
He does all this for us even though there was nothing for him to personally gain.
In Christ, we see that love is selfless and it involves sacrifice.
Three
The sacrificial love of Christ is shown by three examples that we must imitate: He forgave, he spent time with those who were difficult, and he accepted what he could not change to save souls.
Jesus forgave us.
Remember, the entire human got itself into an unsolvable mess when we, in our ingratitude, pride, and rebellious disobedience, turned against God and became slaves to the devil, sin, and death (death meaning eternal separation from God which is hell).
It was our own fault. We did it. We have no one to blame but ourselves and we did not deserve to be saved. God did not owe it to us.
But he did it anyway. He went way out of his way. He became human, then suffered and died for us. And just before he did he said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
So if we want to show some gratitude to Jesus, some love for him after all he has done for us, then we will forgive. We will forgive and help the person in our life who has hurt us, or the person who time and time again has by their own stupid choices and irresponsibility made a mess out of their life. We will still forgive them, be there for them, and help them.
Stephen, the first martyr, followed Our Lord’s example. As he was being murdered, he forgave them.
Who do you need to forgive or to help even though they do not deserve it?
Four
Love is to do some good for someone.
Time is money. Our time is our most precious commodity because our time is our life. So, love, give of yourself by giving someone your time.
Jesus and Stephen were killed by those around them. And there are people praying the Rosary with us right now who live in countries where martyrdom is a real possibility. Still, there’s a good chance you don’t face being killed physically. Yet there are people in your life that you might feel like spending time with them is killing you. There are people in your life who are difficult, boring, or painful to be with.
Spend time with them anyway. Why? Because that is how Christ loved.
Imagine being God and then having to spend all those years wandering around Israel with a bunch of guys who are totally clueless and one of them you know will sell you to your death. But that is what he does. He spent time with us.
So, who is the person you find it hard to give your time to? Is it a spouse, an elderly parent, son or daughter who has made a mess of their life, sibling, or co-worker?
Make a sacrifice of love and spend time with them.
Five
The sacrificial love of Christ and St. Stephen was most clearly expressed by their acceptance of what they could not change. And by this acceptance they saved souls.
In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus asked the Father to remove the cup of suffering. But it was the will of God that Jesus offer his life for us on the Cross. So, Jesus accepted what he could not change. He said, “My Father, if this cup cannot pass by without my drinking it, your will be done!”
Likewise, St. Stephen could have run away, he could have denied Christ and saved his life. Instead, he accepted what he could not change, and offered it up for the salvation of his murders.
One of the greatest ways we can show our love for God and help him save souls, especially our loved ones who are away from the Church, is to accept and offer up what you did not choose, do not like, and cannot change.
We get a lot of opportunities each day. Let’s not waste them.