Receive My Spirit December 26

Feast of Saint Stephen, first martyr

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.” Acts 7:58-59

You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved. Matthew 10:22

Piety

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/122606.shtml

He never promised us a rose garden.

One day after celebrating Christmas, the message is martyrdom. The Church sure doesn’t let us celebrate the joyful birth of Christ for too long. Would 48 hours be too long to celebrate? Apparently so.

Stephen’s ministry jumps the salvation narrative ahead three decades and followed the Crucifixion. As the notes to the NAB point out, in his words and deeds, Stephen, like Christ, challenged the law and the prophets. Stephen understood the fuller implications of the teachings of Jesus and the cost of discipleship. St. Stephen’s message was quite simple: You received the law as transmitted by angels, but you did not observe it. (Acts 7:53) His was a plea for the hearing the Word announced by Christ and passed on to the Christian community and acting upon it.

Furthermore, with Stephen’s ministry, not only extenuated the differences between Judaism and Christianity but also shows how the major impetus behind the Christian movement moved beyond Jerusalem. Looming at his execution is the shadow of one Saul of Tarsus…soon to be struck off his horse…who will pick up the mantle laid down.

Martyrdom for Stephen is paralleled with the death of Christ as Stephen’s cries echo the last words of Christ on the cross. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit; and when he had said this he breathed his last. (Luke 23:46)

Today, we commemorate the Church’s first martyr (after Christ) right after we celebrate the joyous birth because one (birth) without the other (death) is not the full picture of Christianity.

Action

As we consider the fate of St. Stephen, also consider the fate that has befallen the “little town of Bethlehem.” It is no longer just a nice song and picture on a card. It is caught up in the conflict over occupied Palestine. The following web journal entry details some statistics about the exodus of the Christian population from the area where the Church was literally born.

http://www.beliefnet.com/blogs/godspolitics/2006/12/deanna-murshed-o-strangled-town-of.html

The author asks, “Will we in the West only see Bethlehem as a quaint town on holiday cards and nativity scenes? Or will we open our eyes to the present realities that affect our real, though distant, relatives?

Read what Bethlehem's mayor said this week and today's letter from the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.”