Feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr

If Christmas is meant to be joyful, why do we celebrate the Feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr immediately after Christmas, on December 26? Paying a visit to the St. Stephen webpage at Catholic Online did not yield any answer. Nor did a visit to Online Catholic Encyclopaedia.

Fortunately, a patient search on the Internet landed me on a book written in 1955 by Fr. Edward J. Sutfin. The title is called "TRUE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT". It was a book intended to help children make sense of the liturgy and folklore of Christmas. In the Foreword, Fr. Sutfin expressed his wish.

"Children find in folk-lore a natural, unsophisticated outlet of expression. We speak of our children as the hope of our nation. Allow them to profit by liturgy and folk tradition, and they shall integrate a truly American culture which is both contemporary and open-minded to history and to the world at large. The Church always finds old and new treasures of grace in her storehouse of scripture and tradition. We must take every means of helping our children to find them."

In chapter 6 of the book, entitled "THE COURT OF THE KING-SAVIOR", we are able to find out why the feast of St. Stephen is celebrated immediately after Christmas. Christ is our King, our God. He came to us. Among His attendants, St. Stephen was the first and foremost because he was the first to lay down his life for the love of this Great King. In Fr. Sutfin's words.

"ANCIENT tradition tells us that while Advent brought God to man through the Incarnation of the Word, so the twelve days between Christmas and the Epiphany were to bring man to God. On the very first day after Christmas we meet the first member of the suite of the Great King. The Saviour's immediate attendant is St. Stephen of Jerusalem, the first martyr, for there is no greater love for the newborn King than to lay down one's life for Him."

The story of St. Stephen is recorded in Acts 6:1-8:2. Like Jesus, Stephen was a model martyr. He was eloquent and full of the Holy Spirit. Luke describes his death scene in parallel with Jesus' Passion. Stephen saw the heavens opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:56), while Jesus promised the repentant thief a place in paradise (Luke 23:43). Stephen asked Jesus to forgive those who killed him (Acts 7:60) while Jesus asked God the Father to forgive (Luke 23:34). Stephen surrendered his soul into Jesus' hand (Acts 7:59) while Jesus committed his spirit to God the Father (Luke 23:46). Therefore, it is no exaggeration to claim that the corpus of Luke is a gospel for the martyrs, in both sense of the word: to bear witness and to lay down one's life for his convictions.

The gospel reading today is very appropriate. Matthew 10 contains the so-called Missionary Discourse. Firstly, Jesus chose the 12 apostles. He then sent them out to preach the good news. Then there follow a series of advice and warnings. Today, we read of Matthew 10:17-22.
Jesus had warned his followers beforehand that there would be persecutions, that there would be betrayals by your closest relations. But these are also golden opportunities to bear witness to the good news. Moreover, martyrs are vessels of God through whom God's Spirit would speak.
When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour;
for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you (Matthew 10:19-20). 

Nowadays, most of the governments and people are civilized. Christians are not facing bloody persecutions. Rather, we are facing different kinds of obstacles --- indifference and scandals. Therefore, we need to develop a different kind of engagement with this world so that the good news of Christ can be heard all over the world.

Lord Jesus, how do I make my students open up to receive Your good news? How do I rebuild the confidence in the Church which has been eroded among my colleagues? Come, Lord Jesus, come. Amen.