News Item: : Feast of St. Stephen
(Category: Torch of The Faith News)
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Monday 26 December 2016 - 15:56:15

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Today's feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, provides a timely reminder that the Nativity Crib of Christmas is not just a cozy scene to make us feel good in winter. As the first of the martyrs, St. Stephen's feast is associated closely with that of the newborn Christ. In St. Stephen we glimpse something of the truth regarding real discipleship of Christ; it is a love which will entail self-sacrifice and death to self. Such is true of all loves worthy of the name. How much more this is the case in response to Jesus, Who has given His very life for us.

St. Stephen's feast reminds us, too, that Our Lord's salvific mission leads from the Manger of Bethlehem on to the Cross of Calvary; and on all the way to the Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

In the late 5th and early 6th-Centuries, St. Fulgentius was Bishop of Ruspe, in North Africa. He preached a famous sermon about St. Stephen, which follows below. The opening words of this sermon tell us something of the early provenance of this feast. When we celebrate these ancient feasts of the Catholic Church, we draw from, and take forward, the rich depths of treasure in the Sacred Tradition. As you will see, this sermon still has much to teach all of us in these days of intensive trial for the Church.  

The Weapons of Love

Yesterday we celebrated the birth in time of our eternal king; today we celebrate the triumphant death of a soldier.

Yesterday our king put on the robe of flesh, and coming out of the court of the Virgin's womb, deigned to visit the earth. Today a soldier leaves the earthly tabernacle of his body, and goes up in triumph to Heaven.

Our King, though He is most high, came for our sake in great humility, but He could not come empty-handed. He brought with Him, as it were, a great bonus for His soldiers, which not only made them abundantly rich, but also gave them strength to fight and conquer. The gift He brought was love, which brings men into fellowship with the Godhead.

What He brought He gave away freely. But the wonder of it was this: while He made rich the poverty of His faithful followers He did not take away from His own greatness, but remained filled with never-failing treasures.

The love then that brought Christ down from Heaven to earth, lifted Stephen from earth to Heaven. The love that showed itself first in the king, shone forth next in the soldier. And Stephen, so as to deserve to win the crown - which is what his name means - had love as his weapon and by it was everywhere victorious.

Through love of God he did not yield to the raging of the Jews, and through love of his neighbour he prayed for those who were stoning him. Through love he accused those who were in the wrong that they might be corrected. Through love he prayed for those stoning him to save them from punishment.
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Trusting in the strength of love he overcame the cruel raging of Saul, and so won for himself a companion in Heaven, the man who had been his persecutor on earth. This holy and untiring love ardently desired to acquire as converts by his prayers those whom he had been unable to convert by argument.

And now Paul rejoices with Stephen, with Stephen he enjoys the brightness of Christ; he exults with Stephen, he reigns with Stephen.

What a really true life must there be now, brethren, where Paul is not put to confusion although he killed Stephen, but where, instead, Stephen rejoices in the fellowship of Paul; for in both of them love itself rejoices. In Stephen, love overcame the ferocity of the Jews, in Paul it covered a multitude of sins, and in both of them love deserved to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

Love, therefore, is the origin and source of all good things; it is a most excellent defence, the road that leads to Heaven. Whoever walks in love can neither stray nor be afraid. Love guides, love protects, love leads to the end.

Christ our Lord, brethren, set up for us this ladder of love, and by it every Christian can climb to Heaven. You must, therefore, keep a firm hold on love, you must show it to one another, and by progress in it climb up to Heaven.

From a Sermon by St. Fulgentius of Ruspe

May the graces of this Christmas season, and the prayers of St. Stephen, help us all to grow in love and holiness.

St. Stephen, the first Christian Martyr - Pray for us!



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