Monday, December 26, 2022
Second Day of Christmas
Feast of St. Stephen
Boxing Day in Great Britain
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Page and monarch forth they went
Stephen, on the day of his death:
Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
Jesus, the Son of Man and Son of God, on the day of his death:
From now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.
They had the same vision. And on the first day after Christmas, we observe the feast for Stephen, who was stoned to death for sharing that vision with his listeners. Stephen, the first martyr for Jesus Christ.
In this way, Stephen reminds us that the life Jesus began in a manger will end on the cross. Like Stephen and of course like Jesus, our lives also will include many challenges, perhaps death, that allow us to grow and mature in our faith.
Last night, celebrating Christmas Mass, Pope Francis held the baby from the Vatican’s nativity scene. He spoke of the baby Jesus’ poverty and said simply, “It is impossible to celebrate the birth of Jesus without concern for the poor. Without the poor, we can celebrate Christmas, but not the birth of Jesus.”
Be my rock of refuge, a stronghold to give me safety. Into your hands I commend my spirit. I will rejoice and be glad.
Pope Francis remembered the life of Jesus.
Jesus was born poor, lived poor and died poor; he did not so much talk about poverty as live it to the very end, for our sake. From the manger to the cross, his love for us was palpable, always concrete. From birth to death, the carpenter’s son embraced the roughness of the wood, the harshness of our existence. And he did not love us only in words, but he loved us with utter seriousness.
In the tenth century after Christ Duke (later renamed King) Wenceslaus is famous for embodying this model Jesus set for us, Â following in the footsteps of Stephen. So on this day especially, we sing his song.
Good King Wenceslaus looked down, on the feast of Stephen …
When a poor man came in sight gathering winter fuel …
Bring me flesh and bring me wine, bring me pine logs hither
Thou and I shall see him dine, when we bear them thither.
Page and monarch, forth they went, forth they went together
Through the rude winds wild lament and the bitter weather …
Pope Francis follows in those footsteps as well, wearing less finery, living less regally, sharing resources with the poor and visiting prisons and orphanages over and over during the last ten years of his papacy.
He who was born in the manger demands a concrete faith, made up of adoration and charity, not empty words and superficiality. He who lay naked in the manger and hung naked on the cross, asks us for truth, he asks us to go to the bare reality of things, and to lay at the foot of the manger all our excuses, our justifications and our hypocrisies. Then will we visit him where he is to be found, namely in the poor mangers of our world. For that is where he is present.
(Acts 6-7, Psalm 31, Psalm 118, Matthew 10)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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