Read Reflect Respond

Sundays | Feast Days |  Videos | Latest 

26th December 

St. Stephen, the First Martyr

READ: (Acts 6:8-10, 7: 54-8:1; Matt 10: 17-22)

REFLECT: St.  Stephen – a man of God, courageous witness and a resemblance of Christ…

Dear friends, today along with Mother Church we celebrate the Feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr. He was stoned outside Jerusalem and breathed his last praying for his executioners. He was one of the seven deacons who helped the apostles. He is portrayed as a man filled with faith, the Holy Spirit and was full of fortitude. We could see a comparative description of St. Stephen the disciple and his and our Master Jesus, emphasizing the imitation of Christ even to the extent of giving his life as a total self-gift to God like Jesus.

Certainly, we all might wonder why this feast is placed immediately after the Christmas, the birth of our Saviour, a joyful celebration. Perhaps there could be many reasons but one of the reasons is to remind us that we are called to give the new born king everything all that we are and all that we have without holding back anything for oneself even if it means suffering, pain and death. I am sure all of you would attest to the fact that St. Stephen bore witness to the newborn King, expressing and manifesting faith in greater measure giving life for the sake of God and his work.

Today, St. Stephen is symbolically presented with the following images; deacon carrying a pile of rocks; deacon with rocks gathered in his vestments; deacon with rocks on his head; deacon with rocks or a book at hand; stones; palm of martyrdom; man holding a green palm and a golden book, probably a Bible. St. Stephen is the patron saint of deacons, brick layers, casket makers, coffin makers, against headaches, horses, masons, stone masons and quarrymen.

So based on the reading of the day and the life of St. Stephen, I would like to share with you three points of reflection;

1.     St. Stephen-  a man of grace and power:

Stephen, the first Christian martyr is described in the Acts of the Apostles as “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5) and as a man “full of grace and power” who performed “great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:8). This signifies the personality of Stephen that he was full of grace and power from above. That’s why he is even chosen as one of the first seven deacons of the Church, ordained into Holy Orders by the very hands of the Apostles to assist them in their priestly ministry.

That’s what we see in the opening verse of the first reading that St. Stephen full of grace and power was doing great wonders and signs among the people. First and foremost we see clearly the grace and power of God was with St.  Stephen. It is with the power from above that he was able to perform miracles and wonders among people. So anyone relies on the grace and power of God will be able to work wonders in the lives of many. But today fortunately or unfortunately, most of us run the race of life on our won with selfish interests and personal benefits. We use our own power but fail to recognize that the power that we have is from God and is given by God to make us powerful and empower others to work for God’s kingdom.

Today, most of us long for power and position. Even if we are given or have the power we don’t seem to be discreet in making use of the power for good work. Some of us do not make use of the power invested rightly for right plans and for good projects or some of us misuse the power and honor to either subjugate or dominate others. So the purpose of the power is downplayed and ultimately there is no peaceful rule or harmony in individuals, families, societies and the world at large. So today, we need to pray for grace and power from God to use them properly for good and right plans as God makes known to us in the events and situations of our world.

2.     St. Stephen- a courageous witness:

Pope Francis very beautifully says “St. Stephen is the first martyr, or witness, the first of a host of brothers and sisters who continue to bring the light into the darkness, people who respond to evil with good, who do not succumb to violence and lies, but break the cycle of hatred with meekness and love. In the world’s nights, these witnesses bring God’s dawn.”

In the life of St. Stephen as written in Acts of the apostles we hear that in the midst of disputes that arose in the discussions, the people who were trying to put stephen off the track but could not do anything because, no one could withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking (Acts 6: 10-11).

Yes, Stephen was able to solve the disputes, he was able to encounter them with right answers, he was able to make them understand by the power of God and the wisdom obtained in and through the spirit of God. In addition to the above, we read in the gospel of the day, where Jesus encourages and empowers the apostles not to worry about what to speak before governors and kings in courts and synagogues, when they are accused for no fault or persecuted for Christ’s sake because the spirit of God the Father will speak through the apostles. Yes. That’s what we see in the life of St.  Stephen, he was not afraid to call spade a spade. He was ready to point out the Jewish authorities their faults and flaws, their wicked and crooked ways of thinking and dealing with people. That’s what we see in the Acts of the Apostles, when Stephen called them Christ’s “betrayers and murderers,” the Jewish leaders “became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen” (Acts 7:52–54).

We see in the life of St. Stephen that nothing could deter the courage to proclaim the good news and stand firm for the faith he professed in Jesus our savior. Today, such courage is lacking in us. Even if we have courage, there is no moral courage to stand firm for values that promote life. Because, our words and deeds do not correspond to the way we speak and live life. Today what is required is not only courage to proclaim but moral courage to manifest people that we are models and examples of holy and righteous living.

We all know that moral courage is the ability to stand up for and practice that which one considers ethical, moral behavior when faced with a dilemma, even if it means going against countervailing pressure to do otherwise. Yes moral courage would prove to others that we not only preach but also practice the moral and ethical standards of living to promote good in the society. Moral courage enables us to endure any hardship or persecution, rather than abandon our duty to God, ourselves and our neighbor. So let us not only pray for being courageous witnesses to Christ but also pray for moral courage to resemble St. Stephen in holiness, faith, grace and power of God.

3. St. Stephen- resembled Christ:

Every Christian is called to resemble Christ in word and deed. Of course, it is not an easy path to tread, but with the power of God and the grace from above we can do impossible things possible. That’s what we hear in Matt 19:26, Jesus saying in the context of a rich young man who failed to follow Jesus when he was asked to give up riches for the sake of God’s kingdom, “For human beings it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”

So Stephen being a holy man, a man of faith and grace was able to follow Christ more closely and could manifest to the Jewish society that he could resemble Christ in word and deed, although he can never match up with Christ and his work of redemption. But definitely, his participation in Christ’s works and resemblance in the character feature of Jesus is admirable and acceptable. We see Stephen was accused as a blasphemer by the crowd like Jesus (Acts 6: 12-15); He gave up his spirit like Jesus saying, Lord Jesus receive my spirit (Acts 7: 59); He could forgive others like Christ saying, Lord do not hold this sin against them (Acts 7:60).

In all the accusations and  affliction to death Stephen could resemble Christ because he imitated Christ sincerely,  was inspired greatly by the very life of Jesus as total self-gift and self-offering and firmly believed in the power of God that he would grant him the strength to put up with difficulties and sufferings so hard and painful.

Very beautifully Pope Francis says, “Even small acts of love can change the course of history, because God guides history through the humble courage of those who pray, love, and forgive. We are called to bear witness to Jesus right where we live, in our families, at work, everywhere, even just by giving the light of a smile and fleeing the shadow of gossip and tattle-telling.” Pope Francis also offered a piece of advice  saying that rather than complaining when we see something wrong, we should pray for the person who made the mistake.“Saint Stephen, while he was on the receiving end of the stones of hatred, reciprocated with words of forgiveness. He thus changed history.”

Today, it is an opportunity and a challenge to resemble Christ in all the ways and always. But let us remind ourselves of St. Stephen. He was able to resemble Christ because of he had faith in Jesus, grace from God and was filled with the Holy Spirit. Today we all of us lack deep and sincere faith in Jesus, grace from God and the presence of the Holy Spirit. So holiness of life, faithfulness to God, recognizing presence of the Holy Spirit, forgiving and loving others in all circumstances are the pure ways of resembling Christ on earth.

Today hatred and hurt increased largely, we are not able to accept the other or do not have the strength to forgive others. We prolong the experience of hate and hurt and live a life without peace in oneself and in the other. The division and disunity, misunderstanding and mishap in the family or society, community or an institute, church or the world is because we lack forgiveness for oneself and no attitude of forgiving others like Christ on the cross (Lk 23:34) and like St.  Stephen, who had the courage to forgive the accusers and murderers, obtained peace for himself and for the others (Acts7:60). So let us pray and draw strength and courage through the intercession of St. Stephen and resemble Christ in our lives.  

RESPOND:

Are we people filled with faith, grace and power from God and do we make it felt by others in our encounter?

Are we courageous witnesses of Christ in the midst of pain, suffering and even if death at times?

Do we resemble Christ like St. Stephen in holiness, faithfulness, presence of God, forgiveness and love to one another?

Let us be persons of grace and power from on high, be courageous witness and resemble Christ in all ways always. May God bless us in our efforts. Amen.

“Consider that all your sufferings are not comparable to his either in quality or in quantity; you will never be able to suffer anything for his sake compared to what he suffered for you.” (St. Francis De Sales, IDL, Part III, Chapter 3, p. 148)

Wish you a happy feast. God bless us all…

Live Jesus

Fr.  Ramesh George MSFS