Sunday, January 18, 2009

Celebrate life


Prayer for the Helpless Unborn

Heavenly Father, in Your love for us, protect against the wickedness of the devil, those helpless little ones to whom You have given the gift of life.

Touch with pity the hearts of those women pregnant in our world today who are not thinking of motherhood.

Help them to see that the child they carry is made in Your image - as well as theirs - made for eternal life.

Dispel their fear and selfishness and give them true womanly hearts to love their babies and give them birth and all the needed care that a mother can give.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, Your Son, Our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Baptism of Jesus


Message from Pope Benedict XVI

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today's celebration is always a cause of special joy for me. Indeed, the administration of the Sacrament of Baptism on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is one of the most expressive moments of our faith, in which we can almost see the mystery of life through the signs of the liturgy.

In the first place, there is human life. It is represented here in particular by these 13 children who are the fruit of your love, dear parents, to whom I address my cordial greeting, which I extend to the godparents and the other relatives and friends present.

Then comes the mystery of divine life which God gives to these little ones today through rebirth in water and the Holy Spirit. God is life, as some of the pictures that embellish this Sistine Chapel marvellously evoke.

Yet it does not seem out of place if we immediately juxtapose the experience of life with the opposite experience, that is, the reality of death. Sooner or later everything that begins on earth comes to its end, like the meadow grass that springs up in morning and by evening has wilted.

In Baptism, however, the tiny human being receives a new life, the life of grace, which enables him or her enter into a personal relationship with the Creator for ever, for the whole of eternity.

Unfortunately, human beings are capable of extinguishing this new life with their sin, reducing themselves to being in a situation which Sacred Scripture describes as "second death".

Whereas for other creatures who are not called to eternity, death mean solely the end of existence on earth, in us sin creates an abyss in which we risk being engulfed for ever unless the Father who is in Heaven stretches out his hand to us.

This, dear brothers and sisters, is the mystery of Baptism: God desired to save us by going to the bottom of this abyss himself so that every person, even those who have fallen so low that they can no longer perceive Heaven, may find God's hand to cling to and rise from the darkness to see once again the light for which he or she was made.

Yearning for true life

We all feel, we all inwardly comprehend that our existence is a desire for life which invokes fullness and salvation. This fullness is given to us in Baptism.

We have just heard the account of the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. It was a different Baptism from that which these babies are about to receive but is deeply connected with it.

Basically, the whole mystery of Christ in the world can he summed up in this term: "baptism", which in Greek means "immersion".

The Son of God, who from eternity shares the fullness of life with the Father and the Holy Spirit, was "immersed" in our reality as sinners to make us share in his own life: he was incarnate, he was born like us, he grew up like us and, on reaching adulthood, manifested his mission which began precisely with the "baptism of conversion" administered by John the Baptist.

Jesus' first public act, as we have just heard, was to go down into the Jordan, mingling among repentant sinners, in order to receive this baptism. John was naturally reluctant to baptize him, but because this was the Father's will, Jesus insisted (cf. Mt 3:13-15).

Why, therefore, did the Father desire this? Was it because he had sent his Only-Begotten Son into the world as the Lamb to take upon himself the sins of the world (cf. Jn 1:29)?

The Evangelist recounts that when Jesus emerged from the waters, the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove, while the Father's voice from Heaven proclaimed him "my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" (Mt 3:17).

From that very moment, therefore, Jesus was revealed as the One who came to baptize humanity in the Holy Spirit: he came to give men and women life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10), eternal life, which brings the human being back to life and heals him entirely, in body and in spirit, restoring him to the original plan for which he was created.

The purpose of Christ's existence was precisely to give humanity God's life and his Spirit of love so that every person might be able to draw from this inexhaustible source of salvation. This is why St. Paul wrote to the Romans that we were baptized into the death of Christ in order to have his same life as the Risen One (cf. Rom 6:3-4).

Fullness only God can give

For this reason Christian parents, such as you today, bring their children to the baptismal font as soon as possible, knowing that life which they have communicated calls for a fullness, a salvation that God alone can give. And parents thus become collaborators of God, transmitting to their children not only physical but also spiritual life.

Dear parents, I thank the Lord with you for the gift of these children and I invoke his assistance so that he may help you to raise them and incorporate them into the spiritual Body of the Church.

As you offer them what they need for their growth and salvation may you always be committed, helped by their godparents, to developing in them faith, hope and charity, the theological virtues proper to the new life given to them in the Sacrament of Baptism.

You will guarantee this by your presence and your affection; you will guarantee it first of all and above all by prayer, presenting them daily to God and entrusting them to him in every season of their life.

If they are to grow healthy and strong, these babies will of course need both material care and many other kinds of attention; yet, what will be most necessary to them, indeed indispensable, will be to know, love and serve God faithfully in order to have eternal life.

Dear parents, may you be for them the first witnesses of an authentic faith in God!

In the Rite of Baptism there is an eloquent sign that expresses precisely the transmission of faith. It is the presentation to each of those being baptized of a candle lit from the flame of the Easter candle: it is the light of the Risen Christ, which you will endeavour to pass on to your children.

Thus, from one generation to the next we Christians transmit Christ's light to one another in such a way that when he returns he may find us with this flame burning in our hands.

During the Rite I shall say to you: "Parents and godparents, this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly". Dear brothers and sisters, always feed the flame of the faith by listening to and meditating on the Word of God and assiduous communion with Jesus in the Eucharist.

May you be assisted in this marvellous if far from easy role by the holy Protectors after whom these 13 children will be named.

Above all, may these Saints help those being baptized to reciprocate your loving care as Christian parents.

May the Virgin Mary in particular accompany both them and you, dear parents, now and for ever. Amen!

Friday, January 9, 2009

Saint Faustina


St Mary Faustina Kowalska was born on 25 August 1905 in Glogowiec, Poland, to a poor, religious family of peasants, the third of 10 children. She was baptized with the name Helena in the parish church of Swinice Warckle. From a very tender age she stood out because of her love of prayer, work, obedience and her sensitivity to the poor. At the age of nine she made her First Holy Communion and attended school for three years. At the age of 16 she left home and went to work as a housekeeper in Aleksandrow, Lodz and Ostrowek in order to support herself and to help her parents.

At the age of seven she had already felt the first stirrings of a religious vocation. After finishing school, she wanted to enter the convent but her parents would not give her permission. Called during a vision of the suffering Christ, on 1 August 1925 she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy and took the name Sr Mary Faustina. She lived in the congregation for 13 years, residing in Krakow, Plock and Vilnius, where she worked as a cook, gardener and porter.

Externally, nothing revealed her rich mystical interior life. She zealously performed her tasks and faithfully observed the rule of religious life. She was recollected, yet very natural, serene and full of kindness and disinterested love for her neighbour. Although her life was apparently insignificant and monotonous, she hid within herself an extraordinary union with God.

It is the mystery of God's mercy, which she contemplated in the word of God as well as in her everyday activities, that forms the basis of her spirituality. The process of contemplating and getting to know the mystery of God's mercy helped to develop within Sr Mary Faustina the attitude of childlike trust in God and of mercy towards her neighbour. "0 my Jesus, each of your saints reflects one of your virtues; I desire to reflect your compassionate heart, full of mercy; I want to glorify it. Let your mercy, 0 Jesus, be impressed upon my heart and soul like a seal, and this will be my badge in this and the future life" (Diary 1242). Sr Faustina was a faithful daughter of the Church. Conscious of her role in the Church, she cooperated with God's mercy in the task of saving lost souls. At the specific request of the Lord Jesus and following his example, she made a sacrifice of her own life for this very goal. Her spiritual life was also distinguished by a love of the Eucharist and a deep devotion to the Mother of Mercy.

The years she spent in the convent were filled with extraordinary gifts, such as revelations, visions, hidden stigmata, participation in the Passion of the Lord, bilocation, the reading of human souls, prophecy and the rare gift of mystical espousal and marriage. Her living relationship with God, the Blessed Mother, the angels, the saints, the souls in purgatory—with the entire supernatural world—was as real for her as the world she perceived with the senses. In spite of being so richly endowed with extraordinary graces, Sr Mary Faustina knew that they do not in fact constitute sanctity. In her Diary she wrote: "Neither graces, nor revelations, nor raptures, nor gifts granted to a soul make it perfect, but rather the intimate union of the soul with God. These gifts are merely ornaments of the soul, but constitute neither its essence nor its perfection. My sanctity and perfection consist in the close union of my will with the will of God" (Diary 1107).

The Lord Jesus chose Sr Mary Faustina as the apostle and "secretary" of his mercy, so that she could tell the world about his great message. "In the Old Covenant", he said to her, "I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to my people. Today I am sending you with my mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to my merciful Heart" (Diary 1588).

The mission of Sr Mary Faustina consists in three tasks:

—reminding the world of the truth of our faith revealed in the Holy Scripture about the merciful love of God towards every human being;

—entreating God's mercy for the whole world and particularly for sinners, among others through the practice of new forms of devotion to the Divine Mercy presented by the Lord Jesus, such as: the veneration of the image of the Divine Mercy with the inscription: "Jesus, I trust in you"; the feast of the Divine Mercy celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter; chaplet to the Divine Mercy and prayer at the Hour of Mercy (3 p.m.). The Lord Jesus attached great promises to the above forms of devotion, provided one entrusted one's life to God and practised active love of neighbour;


—initiating the apostolic movement of the Divine Mercy, whose task is to proclaim and entreat God's mercy for the world and to strive for Christian perfection, following the precepts laid down by Sr Mary Faustina. The precepts in question require the faithful to have an attitude of childlike trust in God, expressed in fulfilling his will, and an attitude of mercy toward one's neighbour. Today millions of people throughout the world are involved in this Church movement: it includes religious congregations, lay institutes, religious, confraternities, associations, various communities of apostles of the Divine Mercy, as well as individuals who take up the tasks which the Lord Jesus communicated to them through Sr Mary Faustina.

Sr Mary Faustina's mission was recorded in her Diary, which she kept at the specific request of the Lord Jesus and her confessors. In it she faithfully wrote down all of the Lord's wishes and described the encounters between her soul and him. "Secretary of my most profound mystery", the Lord said to Sr Faustina, "know that your task is to write down everything that I make known to you about my mercy, for the benefit of those who by reading these things will be comforted in their souls and will have the courage to approach me" (Diary 1693). Sr Mary Faustina's work sheds light on the mystery of the Divine Mercy. It delights not only simple, uneducated people, but also scholars, who look upon it as an additional source of theological research.

Sr Mary Faustina, consumed by tuberculosis and innumerable sufferings, which she accepted as a voluntary sacrifice for sinners, died in Krakow at the age of 33 on 5 October 1938, with a reputation for spiritual maturity and a mystical union with God. Her reputation for holiness grew, as did the devotion to the Divine Mercy and the graces received from God through her intercession. Pope John Paul II beatified Sr Faustina on 18 April 1993. Her mortal remains rest at the Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Krakow-Lagiewniki.



Sunday, January 4, 2009

Feast of the Epiphany

'Three Kings' Seek, Find, and Worship the Lord

"We have come to worship him" (Mt 2:2) was the meaningful theme chosen for the 20th World Youth Day, celebrated in Cologne, Germany, from 16 to 21 August.

The story of the "Adoration of the Wise Men" is one of the best known in the life of the Lord. However, the episode recounted by the Evangelist Matthew is not primarily an exact historical chronicle. Rather, the focus of interest is the content, which concerns the history of salvation in the message passed on by this witness of faith.

This is why the story of the Three Kings has become a favourite subject in the theological expressions of art. The star that guided the Magi has become an example of the Gospel proclamation to all.

The brief account in Matthew's Gospel (2:1-12), which says that Wise Men from the East, guided by a star, arrived in Bethlehem to worship the newborn Child, was well-known from the Church's beginnings.

The Evangelist Luke tells of the simple local shepherds of Bethlehem who found Jesus lying in a manger.

Matthew, on the other hand, tells the story of Wise Men, people of high rank who arrive from the East, from afar, following a star. They have also been called "astrologers" ("μαγοι" in Greek), Magi kings and the "Three Kings".

Their coming from the "East" (Mt 2:1) makes one think of Persia, where the Parsee priests of Zoroaster encouraged the interpretation and deification of stars.

But according to Scripture (cf. Dt 2:2-10), the land they came from might well have been Babylon, Arabia or Syria. "Wise", therefore, is also a definition of the "foreigners" who had come from afar to worship the newborn Jesus.

Drawing inspiration from Psalm 72[71]: "The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts; the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute" (v. 10); and from Isaiah (60:6): "All from Sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of the Lord", popular tradition has transformed the three experts in astronomy into three kings of different ages and provenance.

There is no doubt that they were astrologers, because they followed a specific star. This star, like a "Pole star", a means of orientation, was transformed in subsequent interpretations to the point that it was even shown with Christ's monogramme, becoming the goal and the symbol of Christ himself.

The brightest star of all

In his Letter to the Ephesians, St. Ignatius (who died in about 117) wrote: "A star shone forth in Heaven more brightly than all the stars, and its light was greater than words can tell, and its strange appearing caused perplexity. And all the other stars... formed themselves into a band about the star. But the star itself surpassed them all in its brightness".

The first scientist to study this constellation in this particular epoch was the German astronomer, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630).

* * *

The Solemnity of the "Epiphany of the Lord" (birth, adoration of the Magi, Baptism in the Jordan, wedding at Cana), which originated in Alexandria, spread increasingly in the liturgy of the entire Church. It has been celebrated on 6 January since the fifth century. Only in the Roman liturgy under Pope St. Leo the Great (440-461) did it become a specific feast: the "Adoration of the Magi".

The definition of the Magi as three, a holy number, partly because of the kind of gifts they offered, also dates to this period. At first, their number or names were not specified. The names Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar probably crept into the Western Tradition from an apocryphal Gospel written in Alexandria in about the sixth century.

One thing, however, is certain. It was interest in the Magi of Matthew's narrative that formed the basis of their subsequent popular veneration. The Evangelist's account of them offers few historical details: instead, it is theological in nature.

The Wise Men symbolized strangers, foreigners or pagans, hence, completely diverse people. Yet they received salvation, just like the People of Israel. Their search, discovery, worship and belief in Jesus filled them with "great joy". Obedient to a warning, they returned to their own country "by another way".

The homage that the first representatives of paganism, henceforth kings, paid to the King of kings enabled them to share in the divine Kingdom of Jesus Christ. In late antiquity and in the early Middle Ages, the field of art provided a particularly fertile terrain for this concept.

Popularity of the legend

Tradition claims that the remains of the Magi were found in Jerusalem in the fourth century by the Empress Helena, who took them with her to Constantinople.

When St. Ambrose, after the year 375, became Bishop of Milan, the Empress presented to him these venerable relics. It is to Ambrose, who possessed an excellent theological formation, that we owe the fact that in theological circles the Epiphany has always met with the recognition it deserves:

"The Wise Men make a gift of their treasures. Do you want to know what an excellent honour they received? The star was visible only to them; where Herod lived it was invisible; where Jesus lay it once again became visible and pointed out the way. So it is that this star is also the way, Christ's way; for Christ, in the mystery of the Incarnation, is the star, because "a star shall come forth from Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel" (Nm 24:17). Therefore, wherever Christ is, the star is too, for he is 'the bright morning star' (Rv 22:16). With his light, then, he points to himself" (cf. St. Ambrose, Comment on Luke II, 45).

An ancient manual for painters, kept at Mount Athos, also describes the "Adoration of the Magi": "a house, and the Most Holy One [Mary, Mother of God], seated, holds Jesus, in the act of blessing, as a newborn child. Before her are the three Magi and they are carrying their gifts in small golden caskets. One of them is an elderly, bare-headed man, kneeling, with a long beard. His eyes are fixed on Christ. He holds his gift in one hand and in the other, his crown; the second of the Magi has a short beard, and the third is clean-shaven. They are looking at one another and pointing to Christ. And Joseph stands behind the Most Holy One, wrapped in wonder. Outside the house, a young man holds the bridles of their three horses. And the three Magi appear once again on a hill. They are seated on their mounts, homeward bound. An angel, before them, is showing them the way".

* * *

Popular piety has preferred the legendary account of the "Adoration of the Magi", the scene so widely depicted in figurative art.

The new Martyrologium Romanum, however, is somewhat more precise. It says that the transferral of the remains of the Three Magi (trium magorum) took place on 13 July to Cologne.

"Certain Wise Men from the East arrived in Bethlehem bearing gifts, to contemplate in the Child the mystery of the magnificence of the Only-begotten One" (Martyrologium Romanum, Rome, 2004, p. 658, n. 13).

In Rome, famous and expressive portrayals of the Wise Men from the East existed well before the transferral of their remains from Milan to Cologne. It is only possible here to mention a few of these numerous, ancient "Roman" representations — about 100 exist.

From the third century, the "Adoration of the Magi" appeared in the catacombs, for example, those of Sts. Marcellinus and Peter, St. Priscilla or St. Domitilla. It also features in the sculpture on sarcophagi, such as the one from St. Paul Outside-the-Walls exhibited in the Lateran Museum.

'Adoration of the Magi'

The composition of the scene is often similar: the Mother of God is seated as the Queen of Heaven, or Queen and Mother, with the Child on her lap on one side of the image, usually on the right.

The Child stretches out one or both of his hands to the Magi, in Oriental dress, who are arriving from the opposite side. Their number sometimes differs; it varies from two to four. Whether symmetry or the lack of space are sufficient explanation for this remains doubtful.

The distinction between the presentation of the gifts, as a sign of sacrifice, and adoration, like prostration, is not always clearly distinguishable.

Arguably one of the greatest Western art treasurers is the proto-Christian panel cypress in the wooden door (5.35m. x 3.5m.) at the Church of Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill in Rome. The carving on the door, made of cyprus or cedar around 432, clearly demonstrates a Byzantine influence. One of its oldest panels, showing the "Adoration of the Magi", is a unique testimony of Christian art.

Only 18 of the original 28 scenes remain.

The panel of the "Epiphany of the Lord" (third, left, upper row) depicts the "Adoration of the Magi". The Mother of God is seated with the Child Jesus on a raised throne to which several steps lead. The three Magi Kings approach bearing their gifts at the "same rapid pace", a typical feature of triumphal art.

This scene fits into a general representation of the history of salvation. It is one of a series of wooden panels carved in relief — almost a concordance of the Old and New Testaments —, whose motifs come mainly from Syria and Palestine. Unfortunately, missing panels have made it impossible to reconstruct their overall catechetical programme.

The subject had a certain resonance: in 1015, Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim, inspired by the wooden door of Santa Sabina, commissioned the famous portal of the Cathedral of Hildesheim. Around 1065, the Church of Santa Maria in Campidoglio of Cologne also acquired a similar wooden door.

The mosaics commissioned by Pope Sixtus III (432-440) that decorate the triumphal arch of the Basilica of St. Mary Major, which has been called the "Roman Bethlehem", are among these unique interpretative works. The mosaics on this arch show the fulfilment of the prophecy through the Messiah's birth.

The divinity of the newborn Child becomes the central theme. The divine Child, who looks particularly small, is seated upon an excessively large and sumptuous throne. He is flanked on the left by Mary, Mother of God, clad in a royal robe of gold, along with a King and St Joseph. On the right, an allegorical figure is recognizable as the Church or "divine Wisdom", accompanied by another two Wise Men in Frigian dress. The star and four angels are depicted behind the throne.

The great variety of the "Roman" representations of the "Adoration of the Magi" make it easy to understand that in Rome, long before the "Cologne period" of the "Three Kings", the important subject of the "Epiphany of the Lord" was conceptually present in theology and the consciousness of the Church: the Mother of God (enthroned) with the (divine) Child, the (three) Magi with the Star and camels or horses; sometimes (three) shepherds and angels were also added.

They have sometimes been set into medallions of the virtues: faith or fides, charity or caritas, and hope or spes.

After the conquest of Milan in 1164, on 9 July, Frederick Barbarossa consigned the relics of the Magi Kings to Rainald of Dassel, his Chancellor and Archbishop of Cologne, as spoils of war.

They were transferred with due solemnity from Milan to Cologne, where veneration of the Magi soon spread to Poland, England and even Ireland.

Obviously, Cologne's best known artworks were created subsequent to the arrival of the remains at the Cathedral.

'Sarcophagus' of the Magi

The famous "sarcophagus" of the Magi is a masterpiece of Medieval goldsmithery.

Nicholas of Verdun and several assistants in his workshop produced the Shrine of the Three Magi, a work of art of immense value and importance to the history of Medieval art, to contain the relics (1181-1230).

Otto IV immortalized himself on this casket as the fourth king (1198 king 1209 emperor), a striking example of the political exploitation of religious sentiment.

The famous altarpiece in Cologne Cathedral by Stephan Lochner (1410-1451) showing the "Adoration of the Magi", despite the many local figures among the Kings' numerous escorts, later contributed further to the veneration of the Wise Men from the East. Lochner painted it as an "educational" account: the Mother of God with the Child imparting a blessing, the three Wise Men of different ages, who are offering him their gifts in a balanced composition with a wealth of detail.

Both these works gave rise to a style that spread far beyond Cologne and Germany.

The key significance of all these artworks is, with different accents, the human quest and request for God.

The Magi who came from the East, important figures, were men of their time who asked critical questions and sought meaning for life. They asked seriously, they sought tenaciously, and they set out readily.

According to religious thinking of the time, they were among the lowliest: pagans, non-believers, those who were far from God.

By asking and seeking, the Wise Men discovered and encountered the Lord. They felt "great joy".

From atheism or minimal faith they were led to conversion and finally, on a different route, went home.

Seeking and adoring God

They had two experiences, of distance and closeness: 1) God is the One who is quite different, who cannot be reached by men and women; 2) God has become a Father to men and women, calling each one by name.

The "great joy" is the peace that God has bestowed upon us through the Incarnation of the Son.

The Wise Men of the East came to the encounter with Jesus: they fell down on their knees, prayed and offered their gifts.

Adoring God thus means giving oneself totally to him and professing him.

Through his Incarnation, his death and his Resurrection, Jesus revealed to all humanity the total gift of himself.

The following is a fundamental part of the Epiphany message: the figurative depictions of the "Three Kings" have some common features that display its central concepts: seeking God, finding him, worshipping him.

Thus, also the representation and patronage of the "Adoration of the Magi" in the chapel of the "Magi Kings", decorated by Francesco Borromini (1599-1667), in the building of the Propaganda Fide, which is the headquarters of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in Rome, contains this specific meaning: the search for God and his proclamation.

The Magi are examples. They were the first to come from far away, determined to adore Christ, in stark contrast to Herod and, with him, the whole of Jerusalem.

Only the simple shepherds from the region surrounding Bethlehem were closer and swifter.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year 2009

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Holy Family Feast


GOD our Heavenly Father, You call all peoples to be united as one family in worshipping You as the one and true God. You willed that Your Son become man, giving Him a virgin mother and a foster father to form the Holy Family of Nazareth.

WE pray: may the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, image and model of every human family unit walk in the spirit of Nazareth and grow in the understanding of its particular mission in society and the Church. May our families be living cells of love, faithfulness and unity, thus reflecting God's covenant with humanity and Christ's redeeming love for His Church.

JESUS, Mary and Joseph protect our families from all evil; keep us, who are away from home, one in love with our dear ones.

Friday, December 26, 2008

St. Stephen day


Stephen's name means "crown," and he was the first disciple of Jesus to receive the martyr's crown. Stephen was a deacon in the early Christian Church. The apostles had found that they needed helpers to look after the care of the widows and the poor. So they ordained seven deacons, and Stephen is the most famous of these.

God worked many miracles through St. Stephen and he spoke with such wisdom and grace that many of his hearers became followers of Jesus. The enemies of the Church of Jesus were furious to see how successful Stephen's preaching was. At last, they laid a plot for him. They could not answer his wise argument, so they got men to lie about him, saying that he had spoken sinfully against God. St. Stephen faced that great assembly of enemies without fear. In fact, the Holy Bible says that his face looked like the face of an angel.

The saint spoke about Jesus, showing that He is the Savior, God had promised to send. He scolded his enemies for not having believed in Jesus. At that, they rose up in great anger and shouted at him. But Stephen looked up to Heaven and said that he saw the heavens opening and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

His hearers plugged their ears and refused to listen to another word. They dragged St. Stephen outside the city of Jerusalem and stoned him to death. The saint prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" Then he fell to his knees and begged God not to punish his enemies for killing him.

After such an expression of love, the holy martyr went to his heavenly reward. His feast day is December 26th.

Prayer to St. Stephen:

.Loving God, Saint Stephen was one of the first deacons in the Church. The Apostles ordained him with six others because they needed ministers who would oversee the needs of the poor and the widowed. His holiness was so evident that when he preached to his enemies, his face glowed brightly like an angel's. I ask him to pray for those who have been called to a life of service as ordained deacons. O Lord, help them to be a sign of Your love in their parishes and in the world where they live and work. Bless them with a vision of their ministry that stirs them to passion and tireless effort. Saint Stephen, pray for us. Amen.