Stephen, filled with grace and power, was working great wonders and signs among the people. Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen, Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and people from Cilicia and Asia, came forward and debated with Stephen, but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.
When they heard this, they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed upon him together. They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him. The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they were stoning Stephen, he called out “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Yesterday nearly one billion people gathered in churches around the world singing, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
We celebrated the beauty of life. The birth of our Savior. The coming of Emmanuel, “God with us.”
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Today the Church takes us in, what feels like, the opposite direction.
We’re not celebrating the birth of a child, but the death of an innocent man, Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
Why such an abrupt change in tone?
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Perhaps to remind us that it’s one thing to believe in Jesus – and another thing to do something about it.
Stephen took his faith and did something about it. He was a deacon, who spent the majority of his ministry taking care of widows. But, as our first reading reveals, he was also an excellent preacher and debater.
It was this – his skillful debating – that cost him his life.
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What do I do about my faith? How do I put it into practice?
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Yesterday we celebrated our faith in Jesus.
Today we’re called to do something about it.
What might that look like for me?
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Image credits: (1) thirstydeer.net (2) Stoning of Saint Stephen, Rembrandt (3) AZ Quotes
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Merry Christmas!
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I’m just wondering, by a show of hands, how many of you have a nativity set at home?
We often display them to help us imagine that first Christmas night.
Here at St. Pius X, our main nativity set is located at the foot of the altar. It’s quite elaborate. There’s the baby Jesus, Joseph, Mary, an angel, the Magi, an ox, a donkey, a woman carrying a basket of fruit, even a reindeer!
This tradition dates back 800 years to Saint Francis of Assisi, who assembled the first nativity set. However, his was much simpler than ours.
Francis only included three figures: Jesus, an ox, and a donkey.
No Mary, no Joseph, no shepherds, no angels. Only Jesus, an ox, and a donkey.
Why was his so simple?
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Saint Francis boiled the meaning of Christmas down to its essence.
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We know why Jesus was placed in the scene. We’re celebrating his birth, which is nothing less than the miraculous arrival of God in the flesh.
But why the ox and the donkey?
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They are first mentioned by the prophet Isaiah, the greatest prophet of the Old Testament, who foretold the coming of the Lord.
In the opening lines of the Book of Isaiah, the LORD says, “An ox knows its owner and a donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know me; my people have not understood.”
What is it that our Hebrew ancestors did not understand?
Time and time again, they failed to “see”; they failed to recognize the LORD.
Animals instinctively recognize their master – it’s the one who feeds, nourishes, and shelters them. “But Israel does not know me,” the LORD says. “My people have not understood.”
This is why Francis placed the ox and the donkey in that first nativity scene, to encourage us to see what the animals see, to recognize that our master is lying in the manger.
This child Jesus is “Emmanuel,” God with us. He has come to usher in that kingdom of peace foretold by the prophet Isaiah in our first reading.
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There are two other aspects of our Lord’s birth that we are also invited to “see.”
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The Gospel tells us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which means, “house of bread.” From the very beginning, he is setting the stage for what he will leave behind: his resurrected presence in the Eucharist.
This point is emphasized by the fact that Jesus is born in a “manger,” which literally means, “a feeding trough.”
With hindsight, Christians can see that the Eucharist is, in fact, the LORD, the “bread of life.”
Born in “Bethlehem.”
Born in a “manger.”
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The other aspect of the nativity scene is what we don’t see: the closed door of the inn.
The Gospel tells us, “There was no room for them.” Anyone staying inside the inn was, literally and figuratively, distanced from Jesus.
But we who look upon the manger are near him. We are out in the elements, standing, gazing, pondering, what his birth means for us. Like the donkey and the ox, we recognize our Master and we want to “see” him.
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This is what brought each of us here – a desire to “see.”
To “see” God fully alive in this child.
To “see” him fully present in the Eucharist.
To “see” him still working wonders in our lives today.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, may God bless you for being here, may he fill your hearts with joy and faith in his Son as we prepare for another year.
When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.” But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and all were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be? For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Mark Twain once said, “The two most important days in your life are the day you were born…and the day you know why.”
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In today’s Gospel, we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist. From the moment of his birth, people were wondering, “Why was this child born? What will he become?”
They suspected John had a divine purpose. But they’d have to wait another thirty years to find out what it was.
After entering into the desert, John builds up the kingdom of God by his preaching and baptism of repentance, preparing thousands to receive Jesus.
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John reminds us that we all have a “why,” a reason for our lives. My mother used to say, her “why” was simply becoming a mother.
My “why” has been being ordained a priest.
What is your “why”?
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Perhaps the answer changes, even simplifies, over time.
But we can be sure of this: the same Lord who gave us life also gives a purpose to each day.
May we find it – and live out with love.
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Image credits: (1) Quoteistan, Mark Twain (2) Keesler Air Force Base (3) MTD Training
