YEAR C: HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF ST. STEPHEN THE MARTYR (1)
HOMILY: Homily for the feast of St Stephen the Martyr, 26th December, Year C When you live in a part of the world that have enjoyed
YEAR C: HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF ST. STEPHEN THE MARTYR
HOMILY THEME: PRAY FOR THOSE WHO PERSECUTE YOU
BY: Fr. Justin Nzekwe
HOMILY: Homily for the feast of St Stephen the Martyr, 26th December, Year C
When you live in a part of the world that have enjoyed some relative peace, you may be tempted to take for granted the gospel we inherited from the apostles.
Few years ago, an eloquent priest in my diocese was murdered in cold blood. The news of his death sent ripples of fear across the diocese and beyond. His death was traced to some politicians who disliked his audacity of saying the truth to their faces.
The diocese organized prayers on his behalf and people gathered with tears from every part of the diocese to morn and pray for this hero of faith. I can recall a thought that came to your mind: Do not talk to this dangerous politicians, so that they will not kill you. A second voice then came up, but that is why you are called to be a priest, especially in an environment where the church is the only voice of the voiceless.
The case of this priest is just one among many other Christians from other part of the countries, in some Muslim and atheistic countries.
The famous saying of Tertullian, that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church”, still holds true. Today Stephen offered a pure sacrifice for the early Church with his life. He died for what he believed in. Shocking, the man who masterminded the killing also shed his blood for the sake of the same gospel. What does it preach to us? Does it mean we all must shed our blood to truly merit heaven? No. But we all should prepare our minds to accept persecution from those who have a different believe from ours, from even the members of our family, and even from the church. Saint Stephen prayed that the guilt of his persecution might not be held against his persecutors. Therefore, always pray for those who persecute you, and those who persecute Christian around the world.
We pray to Saint Stephen today, that through his intercession, we may remain strong, and focus in our Christian journey to the end.
