St. Stephen
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St. Stephen
Today, December 26th we celebrate the martyrdom St. Stephen, a striking contrast to the peaceful message of Christmas Day.
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 Jews argued with Stephen but 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, drove him out of the city and stoned him to death. Stephen 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 we adore 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?
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Christmas and the martyrdom of Stephen are joined together by love.
The virtue of love is the choice to do some good for someone, yourself or someone else. If we only do good for ourselves, then we are selfish. For love to be complete we must at times sacrifice what we want for the good of the other. This is why an essential ingredient to love is sacrifice. In fact, St. Maximilian Kolbe said, “Love lives and is nourished by sacrifices…there is no love without sacrifice.” (SK 503)
Love has a price, and that price is sacrifice. Stephen paid the price of love with his life. God is love and his love for us is expressed most vividly by three great acts of sacrifice:
At Christmas when God emptied himself, sacrificed himself and became really small, a helpless little baby, so that we could become something really great – sons and daughters of God Most High.
At Calvary when He literally offered his life in sacrifice to save us from eternal death.
And every time He gives himself to us in what appears to be lowly bread and wine in the Eucharist at Mass
He does all this even though there is nothing for him to personally gain. And it all comes at the price of sacrifice. For that is love. In Christ, we see that love involves sacrifice. And those who call themselves Christian must embody sacrificial love. And so we celebrate the Martyrdom of Stephen the day after we celebrate the coming of Christ.
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Three Acts of Sacrifice
Jesus taught us how to love sacrificially by three examples: First, Jesus gave time to people who were difficult and that was a sacrifice. 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. But you probably 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 or 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: a spouse, elderly parent, son or daughter who has made a mess of their life, sibling, co-worker? Make a sacrifice of love and spend time with them.
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Jesus sacrificed his will to do the will of the Father.
Jesus has the complete divine nature and a complete human nature. In his human nature, he did not want to die.
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 renounced his own human will and accepted the will of God, he accepted what he could not change. He said, “My Father, if this cup cannot pass by without my drinking it, your will be done!” And in so doing He saved the world.
When Stephen faced the mob, he could have run away, he could have denied Christ and saved his life. Instead, he accepted what he could not change, that speaking the truth would cost him his life, and offered it up for the salvation of his murders.
"Nothing happens except by God’s will or permission. While God does not will evil, He allows it as a consequence of the misuse of freedom by angels and humans and permits the resulting suffering to bring about a greater good. When we face what we cannot change, we encounter God's permissive will. By renouncing our own will and uniting it with His, we imitate Christ and express our greatest love for God."
This is what Stephen did and it’s what we are invited to do.
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Jesus forgave.
One of the greatest acts of love and sacrifice is to forgive. The Jewish leaders, Pontius Pilate and the Roman soldiers alone were not responsible for the suffering and death of Christ. As the Catechism teaches, all sinners were the authors and the ministers of all the sufferings the Savior endured. It was our sins, past, present, and future, that put Christ to death.
And what did Jesus do? He forgave us. “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.
Jesus forgave his murderers, and so did Stephen. Who do you need to forgive or to help even though they do not deserve it?