Pope at Angelus: Learn from St
Stephen, fix your gaze on Jesus
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| Pope francis leads the Angelus prayer in St Peter's Square |
During his Angelus to mark the Feast Day of St Stephen, the
first Christian martyr, Pope Francis tells the faithful gathered in St Peter's
Square to learn from Stephen, to become more similar to Jesus.
By Francesca Merlo
Pope Francis began his address by saying that the
celebration of St Stephen, who died, stoned, as he stood to defend his
Christian faith, may appear “out of place” in the midst of the joys of
Christmas. In reality, he said, “specifically in the perspective of faith,
today’s celebration is in harmony with the true meaning of Christmas”.
The Pope went on to explain that in Stephen’s martyrdom,
“violence is defeated by love, and death by life”. In the hour of supreme
witness, he continued, Stephen “offers pardon to his persecutors”.
Pope Francis went on to say that this “young servant of the
Gospel… knew how to speak about Jesus in word, and above all with his life”.
In the school of St Stephen, continued the Pope, “we too fix
our gaze on Jesus, the faithful witness of the Father”, and through it we learn
that the gaze of heaven is “made of love and the offering of oneself”.
Stephen’s witness is “a source of inspiration”, for us
Christians, for whom “Heaven is no longer far away”, said the Pope. Our
Christian communities, he continues, are called to become “always more
missionary”, to strive to evangelise, “determined to reach the men and women
living in the existential and geographic margins where there is a stronger
thirst for hope and salvation”.
Pope Francis concluded his address by reminding the faithful
gathered in St Peter’s Square that this feast day invites us to “remember all
the martyrs of yesterday and today to feel united in communion with them and to
ask of them the grace to live and die with Jesus’ name in our hearts and on our
lips”.
Finally, he prayed to Mary Mother, that we may “live this
Christmas season, with our gaze fixed on Jesus”, so as to become more similar
to him, each day.
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