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  Episode Transcript  

One

St. Stephen

Today, December 26th, we celebrate the martyrdom of St. Stephen, a striking contrast to the peace and tenderness of Christmas Day. We go from angels singing “Peace on Earth” to an enraged mob hurling stones. Christmas shows us what love looks like. Stephen shows us what love costs.

Acts 6:8–10; 7:54–59, “Stephen was filled with grace and power and began to work miracles and great signs among the people. But then certain Jews argued with Stephen but they could not get the better of him because of his wisdom, and because it was the Spirit that prompted what he said. They were infuriated when they heard this and ground their teeth at him. But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. ‘I can see heaven thrown open,’ he said, ‘and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ At this all the members of the council shouted out and stopped their ears with their hands; then they all rushed at him, drove him out of the city and stoned him to death. Stephen knelt down and said aloud, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’; and with these words he fell asleep.”

Imagine the scene. Stones in their hands. Rage in their eyes. And Stephen lifts his gaze, over their shoulders, into heaven opened. The Child wrapped in swaddling clothes is now the Son of Man clothed in glory. The same Jesus who lay helpless in the manger now stands to receive His friend. The wood of the manger already casts the shadow of the wood of the Cross. Christmas reveals the love of God coming down to us. Stephen’s martyrdom reveals the cost of that love when it is taken seriously.

Two

Love Is the Link

Christmas and the martyrdom of Stephen are joined by one thing: love. Love is the choice to do some good for someone, God, yourself, or another. Self-centered “love” is not love at all. Real love requires sacrifice. As St. Maximilian Kolbe said, “Love lives and is nourished by sacrifices… there is no love without sacrifice.” (SK 503)

Love has a price. Stephen paid that price with his life. And God Himself shows us this in three great acts of sacrifice. Christmas: God empties Himself, becomes a helpless baby, really small, so that we can become really great: sons and daughters of the Most High. Calvary: God offers His life to save us from eternal death. The Eucharist: God gives Himself to us at every Mass under the appearance of simple bread and wine.

Nothing is in it for Him. He gains nothing. Love does this. In Christ, we see that love involves sacrifice, and in Stephen we see that Christians are meant to embody this sacrificial love. And here is the deeper mystery: Stephen can love like Christ because the same Holy Spirit who overshadowed Mary and formed Christ in her now fills Stephen and forms Christ in him. Christmas is the beginning of that work. Martyrdom is its completion.

That is why the Church places Stephen right after Christmas Day.

Three

First Act of Sacrifice: Time

Jesus taught us how to love sacrificially in three ways. First, He gave time to difficult people, and that was a sacrifice. Our time is our most precious commodity because our time is our life. Jesus spent years walking around Israel with disciples who didn’t understand Him, didn’t listen, argued, doubted, and one of them He knew would betray Him. Yet gave them time. That is love. Stephen, too, spent time among people who rejected him. His presence among them cost him his life.

You are probably not in danger of physical martyrdom. But you may feel that spending time with certain people is “killing” you, because they are difficult, boring, draining, or painful. Spend time with them anyway. Why? Because that is how Christ loved.

So, who in your life is hard to give time to? Your spouse, an elderly parent, a child who has made a mess of their life, a sibling, a co-worker? Make a small sacrifice of love and give them your time.

Four

Second Act of Sacrifice: Accepting God’s Will

The second sacrifice Jesus made was the sacrifice of His will. In His human nature, He did not want to die. In Gethsemane, He begged the Father to remove the cup of suffering. But then He made the greatest act of love, “My Father, if this cup cannot pass by without my drinking it, Your will be done.”

He accepted God’s will in what He could not change, and in that obedience, He saved the world. Stephen did the same. He could have run. He could have denied Christ. Instead, he accepted what he could not change: that speaking the truth would cost him his life. And he offered it up for the salvation of his murderers.

Nothing happens except what God wills or allows. When we meet situations we cannot change, we meet the permissive will of God. To accept these moments is not resignation. It is the active and courageous sacrifice of our own will. And it is one of the greatest acts of love we can offer Him. This is what Stephen did. And it’s what we are invited to do today.

Five

Third Act of Sacrifice: Forgiveness

Finally, Jesus forgave. And forgiveness may be the most difficult sacrifice of all. Those who killed Him were not the only authors of His suffering. As the Catechism teaches, each one of us, by our sins, caused His death. And what did Jesus do? “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

If we want to show Jesus love and gratitude after everything He has done for us, then we must forgive. Forgive the person who hurt you.
Forgive the one who keeps making a mess of their life. Forgive the one who does not deserve it. Forgive the person you resent. Jesus forgave His murderers, and so did Stephen.

So today, on the feast of Stephen, ask the Holy Spirit for one concrete act of sacrificial love: Whom will I give my time to? What difficult situation will I accept as God’s will? Whom will I forgive? We celebrated Christmas, now let’s live Christmas!

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