Catechesis Notes for the Week — Advent Meditations: St. Stephen, Martyr – During the second week of Advent our daily Bible narratives focus upon Jacob’s journey back to the land of promise where he will meet his brother Esau. Over twenty years earlier his brother vowed to kill him, but in the end the mercy of God won the day, and Jacob and Esau were reunited in the Lord’s forgiveness. This week’s advent meditation focuses upon St. Stephen, the First Martyr in the New Testament. Normally this feast is celebrated the day after Christmas which brings a sense of sobriety to our Christmas celebration. Since, however, Advent celebrates living by faith in this vale of tears, it is appropriate to celebrate this feast ahead of time.

“St. Stephen, “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5), was one of the Church’s first seven ministers, chosen and ordained after the Apostles. He was called to especially minister to the Greek-speaking Jewish Christian widows who were being neglected (Acts 6:2-5). Their ministry enabled the Apostles to give their full attention to the proclamation of the Gospel to which they were called as direct witnesses of the Lord Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection. The central authority of the Office of the Ministry is to preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments. We see the Seven doing exactly that. Philip, another one of the Seven, catechized and baptized Simon the Sorcerer and the Ethiopian Eunuch. Stephen preached the Gospel in the Synagogue of the Freedmen (the free Hellenized Jewish citizens of the empire). It was this faithful preaching of the Gospel, whereby he demonstrated that Jesus of Nazareth was, in fact, the promised Messiah predicted in the Old Testament, for which Stephen was martyred. During his martyrdom we see a faithful Christian, not only in his preaching, but also in his faithful witness to God’s mercy in Christ as he prays for his enemies, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”CP221204