December 26, 2025
Feast of Saint Stephen, First
Martyr
Lectionary: 696
Reading
1
Stephen, filled
with grace and power,
was working great wonders and signs among the people.
Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen,
Cyrenians, and Alexandrians,
and people from Cilicia and Asia,
came forward and debated with Stephen,
but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.
When they heard this, they were infuriated,
and they ground their teeth at him.
But he, filled with the Holy Spirit,
looked up intently to heaven
and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
and he said,
"Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man
standing at the right hand of God."
But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears,
and rushed upon him together.
They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him.
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."
Responsorial
Psalm
Psalm 31:3cd-4, 6 and 8ab,
16bc and 17
R. (6) Into
your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to give me safety.
You are my rock and my fortress;
for your name's sake you will lead and guide me.
R. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
Into your hands I commend my spirit;
you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God.
I will rejoice and be glad because of your mercy.
R. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
Rescue me from the clutches of my enemies and my persecutors.
Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your kindness.
R. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD:
the LORD is God and has given us light.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his
disciples:
"Beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts
and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake
as a witness before them and the pagans.
When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to say.
For it will not be you who speak
but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Brother will hand over brother to death,
and the father his child;
children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but whoever endures to the end will be saved."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122625.cfm
Commentary on Acts
6:8-10,7:54-59; Matthew 10:17-22
Some might find it strange that this feast of a martyr
should follow immediately after the joyful celebration of the Birth of Jesus.
Yet, it is very fitting that the first feast celebrated after Christmas should
be that of the first person recorded as giving his life in the service of his
Lord and Master Jesus Christ, and for the vision of life that the Gospel
represents.
The Christmas story itself is full of challenge, as Mary and
Joseph are forced to leave their home in Nazareth just when she is going to
have her baby. And, after the long journey to Bethlehem, there is no decent
lodging. They have to take shelter in a stable where animals were kept.
Is this how the Son of God, our King and Lord, is to appear
in our world? Yes! Jesus’ mission of self-giving begins right here, in the
stable in Bethlehem. And this is the first step in the saga that will
eventually bring him to the high point of his mission—his suffering, death and
resurrection. What could be more fitting than, on the day after Jesus’
appearance among us, we recall the first disciple of his Way to follow in his
footsteps—and to do so all the way.
The Gospel reading from Matthew could almost have had Stephen
in mind. It is taken from the discourse given by Jesus (chapter 10), where he
sends out his disciples on their mission to do the same work he is doing. He
also warns them of the kind of reception that they can expect to meet.
In the verse before today’s reading, Jesus tells them that
he is sending them out:
…like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as
serpents and simple as doves. (Matt 10:16)
As our passage today begins, Jesus spells out just what that
means. They are to be on their guard because:
…they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in
their synagogues…
Some of their fellow Jews will be doing this to them. And
Jesus says, they:
…will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a
witness before them and the pagans.
People of other religions, and none, will also act against
them.
At the same time, when they are handed over, they are not to
be anxious about what they should say in their defence or how to say it:
…do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are
to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not
be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
We can see much of this taking place in the martyrdom of
Stephen. He was both clever and highly intelligent, but also totally innocent
of any of the charges laid against him. He was hauled before a court. He knew
exactly what to say, and the only reply his accusers could make was to stone
him to death in anger. But he was at peace and, in his dying moments, forgave
his killers.
The First Reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, recounts
the story of the disciple Stephen who was called to more than just corporal
works of mercy. He was a powerful voice in proclaiming the message of Jesus.
The verses describe his encounter with the “Synagogue of
Freedmen”. These people may have been descendants of Jews carried off to Rome
by Pompey in 63 BC. They were sold into slavery, but later released. They might
also have been former slaves who came from North Africa or Asia Minor. When it
comes to race or religion, exiles can be far more fanatical than those living
‘at home’. Hence, Hellenist Jews who became Christian were targets of the
Freedmen’s anger.
What truly roused them was that they could not better
Stephen in their arguments. Like Jesus, he was filled with wisdom, and was
guided by the Spirit in all that he said. Eventually, opposition grew to such
an extent that Stephen was arrested and brought to trial in Jerusalem.
It is not recorded in today’s reading, but in the course of
his defence he gave his judges a lesson in salvation history. As he spoke,
Stephen explained clearly how Jesus was the expected culmination of all that
happened in the course of God’s intervention among his people over the
centuries.
The reading skips straight to Stephen’s last moments. Filled
with the Holy Spirit (as Jesus had earlier promised his disciples), he told the
assembly about the vision he had of Jesus sitting at the Father’s right hand.
The crowd blocked their ears to prevent themselves from listening to such
blasphemies. The Scriptures had long ago said that no one could look on the
face of God and live. Stephen had made it worse; he had put the man—Jesus—side
by side with Yahweh.
He was then rushed out of the city for immediate execution
and stoned to death. And as we saw, there was a young man named Saul, at whose
feet the executioners left their clothes. He looked on with total approval.
This act would see the beginning of a great persecution against the church
community in Jerusalem, led by Saul. Yet, as Jesus had said of himself:
…unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies…
(John 12:24)
How much did the death of Stephen really influence Saul? Was
he actually the instigator of all that was happening? Saul would show himself a
zealous persecutor of these ‘Christians’—these heretical Jews who had to be
crushed. But his time would come, and there would a miraculous turnaround.
Out of Stephen’s tragic death would come the conversion of
Saul to become Paul. Far from being a fanatical Jew, Paul would become the
Apostle to the Gentiles, bringing the Word of Christ not only to his own
people, but even more, to the whole world. Could it be that the words of
forgiveness uttered by Stephen as the stones rained down on him began to change
Saul? As Tertullian, the second century church father, would say later on:
…the blood of martyrs is the seed of faith.
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Friday,
December 26, 2025
Feast of
Saint Stephen
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
we honor today St Stephen, the
first martyr of Your young Church. Make us good witnesses like him,
people filled with faith and with
the Holy Spirit, men and women who are full of fortitude, as we try to live the
life of Jesus.
Give us a great trust that we may live and die in Your
hands and make us pray for those who harm us, that You may forgive them and us.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.
Gospel Reading – Matthew 10: 17-22
“Be prepared for people to
hand you over to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be
brought before governors and kings for my sake, as evidence to them and to the
Gentiles. But when you are handed over, do not worry about how to speak or what
to say; what you are to say will be given to you when the time comes, because
it is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking
in you.
Brother will betray brother
to death, and a father his child; children will come forward against their
parents and have them put to death.
You will be universally
hated on account of my name; but anyone who stands firm to the end will be
saved.”
Reflection
•
This contrast is enormous. Yesterday, Christmas
Day, we had the crib of the newly born child, with the singing of the angels
and the visit of the shepherds. Today here is the blood of Stephen, stoned to
death, because he had the courage to believe in the promise expressed in the
simplicity of the crib. Stephen criticized the fundamentalist interpretation of
the Law of God and the monopoly of the Temple. This is why he was killed (Acts
6: 13-14).
•
Today, which is the feast of Stephen, the first
martyr, the liturgy presents us a passage from the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 10:
17-22), taken from the Sermon of the
Mission (Mt 10: 5-42). In it, Jesus advises the disciples that fidelity to
the Gospel implies difficulties and persecutions: “They will hand you over to
the Sanhedrin and scourge you in their synagogues.” But for Jesus, what is
important in persecution is not the painful side of suffering, but rather the
positive side of witnessing: “You will be brought before governors and kings
for My sake, as evidence to them and to the Gentiles.” Persecution offers the
occasion of giving witness of the Good News which God brings to us.
•
This is what happened to Stephen. He gave
witness to his faith in Jesus to the last moment of his life. At the hour of
his death he says: “I can see Heaven thrown open, and the Son of man standing
at the right hand of God” (Acts 7: 56). And in falling dead under the stones,
he imitated Jesus crying out: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (Acts
7: 60; Lk 23: 34).
•
Jesus had said: “When they will hand you over to
them, do not worry about how or what you have to say, because it will be given
to you at that moment what you have to say: in fact, it is not you who will
speak, but the Spirit of your Father who will speak in you.” This prophecy is
also fulfilled in Stephen. His enemies did not succeed in resisting the
inspired wisdom with which he spoke” (Acts 6: 10). “The members of the
Sanhedrin all looked intently on Stephen, and his face appeared to them as the
face of an angel” (Acts 6: 15). Stephen spoke “filled with the Holy Spirit”
(Acts 7: 55). This is why the anger of the others was so great that they killed
him.
Personal Questions
•
Placing oneself in Stephen’s place, have you
suffered, sometimes, because of your fidelity to the Gospel?
•
The simplicity of the crib and the harshness of
martyrdom go hand in hand in the life of the saints and in the life of so many
people who are persecuted up to the point of death because of their fidelity to
the Gospel. Do you know any people in this situation?
Concluding Prayer
Lord, be for me a rock-fastness, a fortified citadel to save
me.
You are my rock, my rampart; true to your name, lead me and
guide me! (Ps 31: 2-3)
Saint Stephen, the
First Martyr
All that we know of the life of Stephen is contained in two
chapters (6 and 7) of the Acts of the Apostles. The date and place of his birth
are not known. He was a Hellenistic Jew, his name is Greek (coming from the
word stephanos, meaning ‘crown’) and he probably was born and even
lived outside the borders of Palestine. But we do not know when or where or how
he was converted to Christianity.
The first Christians held what they owned in common, so that
the needs of each person were taken care of. However, Acts tells us that the
Hellenists, the Greek-speaking members of the community, were complaining that
some of them, especially the widows, were not being looked after properly. The
Apostles, busy with their work of evangelising, felt they did not have time to
take care of this problem. So seven good and prudent Hellenist men were chosen
to take care of the situation. The seven were prayed over and ordained by the
imposition of hands.
The names of the seven are given. Stephen, who heads the
list is a man:
…full of grace and power…filled with the Holy Spirit…
(Acts 6:8; 7:55)
As well, there is Philip, known as “the Evangelist”,
Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas—all Greek names. Nicholas, we
are told, was a convert to Judaism. They were appointed by the Apostles to look
after the distribution of alms and would be called ‘deacons’. The word ‘deacon’
(diaconus) means ‘one who serves’. They also helped in the ministry of
preaching.
Early on, Stephen showed himself to be a formidable debater
with some of the Jews. We are told that:
…some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the
Freedmen (as it was called), Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others of those from
Cilicia and Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen. But they could not
withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. (Acts 6:9-10)
These people, injured to the quick, had charges brought
against Stephen, saying that he had spoken blasphemies against Moses and
against God.
Stephen was then arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin,
the same court that Jesus had to face during his Passion. False witnesses
attested that Stephen never stopped speaking against the holy place (the
Temple) and the Law (of Moses). They claimed they heard him say that “Jesus the
Nazorean” would destroy the Temple and change the customs which Moses had
handed down.
These, of course, were distortions of what Jesus actually
said. He did say that if the Temple was brought down he would raise it in three
days, referring to the Temple that was his own Body. And he explicitly said
that no one should change one jot of the Mosaic Law, but he also said that one
had to go further than the letter of the Law in interpreting its meaning (see
Matt 5:17-48). Acts says that during all these accusations Stephen’s:
…face was like the face of an angel… (Acts 6:15)
Stephen, in response to the high priest’s request, then made
his defence in a long speech. It took the form of a quite detailed summary of
the history of the Jewish people and their stormy relationship with God, which
often involved the rejection of the leaders that God had appointed to lead
them. Even allowing for some editing by the author of Acts, Stephen was clearly
well versed in the Scriptures and in the history of the Jewish people, as well
as being an eloquent and powerful speaker.
His defence of his beliefs was that God does not depend on
the Temple which, like the Law of Moses, was temporary in nature and waiting to
be replaced and fulfilled by the Christ, the Messiah and Prophet foretold by
Moses, and for whom the Jewish people had been waiting so long. He said,
quoting from Isaiah:
Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with
human hands; as the prophet says,
‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
or what is the place of my rest?’ (Acts 7:48-49)
Stephen concluded by calling his hearers:
…stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears…
(Acts 7:51)
These were the same people who had over the centuries
refused to listen to God and the leaders he appointed:
Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute?
They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you
have become his [Jesus’] betrayers and murderers. (Acts
7:52)
Not surprisingly, this speech did not go down very well:
When they heard these things, they became enraged and
ground their teeth at Stephen. (Acts 7:54)
Then Stephen, echoing the words of his beloved Master and
filled with the Spirit of God, cried out:
Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man
standing at the right hand of God! (Acts 7:56)
His hearers, shocked by what they regarded as absolute
blasphemy (as in the case of Jesus), rushed forward, dragged Stephen out of the
city and began to stone him to death.
As the men stripped to do the stoning, they piled their
clothes at the foot of a young man who looked on approvingly—he was the zealous
Pharisee, Saul. And as Stephen lay dying beneath the barrage of stones he was
heard to cry—again in imitation of his Master on the cross:
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit…do not hold this sin
against them. (Acts 7:59-60)
And then he died. This occurred probably around the year 35
AD (assuming that Jesus died about the year 33).
At least since the 4th century (or earlier), Stephen’s feast
has been observed in both the Eastern and Western Churches. His cult received a
boost when what was believed to be his grave was found by a priest, Lucian, at
Kafr Gamala in 415. Later, his relics were moved to Constantinople, and then to
Rome together with some stones believed to have been used in his martyrdom.
From early times he was the patron of deacons. He has been
named patron of many churches, including a number of French cathedrals such as
Bourges, Sens and Toulouse. Many churches in England were dedicated to him,
especially after the Norman Conquest.
In art, he is often shown holding a book of the Gospels with
a stone and sometimes a palm of martyrdom. There is a fine cycle of pictures by
Fra Angelico now kept at the Vatican.
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