Celebrating the martyrdom of Saint Stephen on the second day of the Christmas octave serves as a reminder that the Christmas message is like a two-edged sword. On the one side is consolation and liberation. On the other side is challenge and conviction.
To truly receive the ultimate Christmas gift, the true gift of Jesus Christ, we have to surrender our entire life and our entire will to both edges of the Christmas message.
Saint Stephen did this. As a result, the Lord was able to perform great wonders and signs among the people through him.
Saint Stephen received the joy of Christmas because he did not seek to just receive the grace of Jesus Christ but instead sought to allow the grace of Jesus Christ to flow through him to the community around him…as Jesus willed it, not as he willed it.
Saint Stephen sought to serve the community and to make God’s love visible in that service. He spread the joy of the Christmas message out into the community around him. He was a source of consolation and liberation to those he served.
But with that joy, also came challenge and conviction. He upheld the Truth of Jesus Christ, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of who would be angry, and regardless of what society wanted to believe was true.
I love what Saint Fulgentius said in a homily called “The Armament of Love”: “Yesterday we celebrated the birth in time of our eternal King. Today we celebrate the triumphant suffering of his soldier. Yesterday our king, clothed in his robe of flesh, left his place in the virgin’s womb and graciously visited the world. Today his soldier leaves the tabernacle of his body and goes triumphantly to heaven. And so the love that brought Christ from heaven to earth raised Stephen from earth to heaven; shown first in the king, it later shone forth in his soldier. Love was Stephen’s weapon by which he gained every battle, and so won the crown signified by his name. His love of God kept him from yielding to the ferocious mob; his love for his neighbor made him pray for those who were stoning him. Love inspired him to reprove those who erred, to make them amend; love led him to pray for those who stoned him, to save them from punishment. Strengthened by the power of his love, he overcame the raging cruelty of Saul and won his persecutor on earth as his companion in heaven. In his holy and tireless love he longed to gain by prayer those whom he could not convert by admonition.”
Brothers and sisters, Christ is born! Alleluia! Alleluia! Embrace both edges of the Christmas message. Be the Love of Christ to the world around you. Be the Love that dissipates the darkness of the world with its brightness of Truth. Be the Love that heals others with the warmth of grace. Allow the Love of Jesus Christ to initiate every motive and animate every action, just as Saint Stephen did. For you too are called to do great wonders and signs among the people for the glory of God.
Today, and always, into your hands, O Lord, we commend our spirits through the Mass.
Thanks be to God!
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