Homily of Bishop Paolo for the Feast of St. Stephen, the First Martyr

Abu Dhabi.

Below is the full text of the homily delivered by Bishop Paolo Martinelli for the Feast of St. Stephen at St. Joseph's Cathedral, Abu Dhabi.
 

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Dear brothers and sisters,

On Christmas day, we meditated on the mystery of the birth of Jesus, our saviour. The birth of Child Jesus also made us reflect on the meaning of our birth. In a certain sense, we are called to be reborn every day with him. The birth of Jesus gives meaning to every other birth. He makes us discover that we are in this world because we are wanted, loved, and desired by God.

But the feast of Saint Stephen seems, at least at first glance, to disturb the Christmas feast a little. Just yesterday we started the Christmas celebration and today, we are immediately confronted with the dramatic nature of our faith.

Jesus confronts us with the need to decide, to take a stand. We cannot remain neutral as followers of Jesus. He wants the decision of our freedom. And as we see from the story of Saint Stephen, it is a decision that involves all of us.

Let us now try to get closer to the particular story of Saint Stephen. The liturgy rightly describes him as a deacon and the first martyr. As we know, the word martyrdom means witness.

Saint Stephen helps us well to understand the meaning of Christian witness and, therefore, of martyrdom. Pope Francis often recalls that there are more martyrs today than in the early days of Christianity.

The martyr-witness is much more than a coherent person with ideas. Saint Stephen did not give his life for a good idea but to bear witness to the Son of God and his love which surpasses all knowledge.

Witnessing is a humble way of communicating the truth. A witness is a person capable of explaining his faith to others. The strength of testimony lies in communicating a reality by involving oneself in what one wants to share, appealing to the freedom of the other.

“We become witnesses when, through our actions, words, and way of being, Another makes himself present. Witness could be described as the means by which the truth of God's love comes to men and women in history, inviting them to accept freely this radical newness. Through witness, God lays himself open, one might say, to the risk of human freedom” (Pope Benedict XVI).

Saint Stephen bears witness to Jesus by repeating Jesus' words and deeds: like Jesus, Stephen gives his spirit back to God. Stephen also asks for forgiveness for his persecutors, like Jesus.

Here we truly see love embracing even the enemy. In Stephen, Jesus makes himself present. The holy martyrs are the ones through whom Jesus remains present in time and space. Just as Jesus presents himself to us in the Eucharist on the altar, so in daily life, Jesus remains present through his witnesses.

Furthermore, as can be seen again from the story of the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Stephen is accused unjustly and slandered, but Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, irrefutably counters all the falsehoods that are told about him. In this way, the words of Jesus in the Gospel are confirmed: the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you.

Finally, the account of the Acts of the Apostles makes us notice that the people who stoned Saint Stephen went to pay homage to a person named Saul. This Saul had given rise to the first great persecution of Christians.

But shortly after that, Saul himself will be touched by grace. He will convert and become the great Saint Paul, who from persecutor of Christians will be made by grace the great Apostle of the Gentiles.

This is why the Christians of the first centuries said: the blood of martyrs is the seed of new Christians.

May the intercession of Saint Stephen obtain the gift of the Holy Spirit in abundance so that we, too, may be witnesses of Jesus through our lives and be a humble sign of God's love for the whole world.