“Saints are Witnesses of the Truth of Christ: Readings & Sermon from the Feast of St. Stephen

The Sunday Mass readings for the Feast of St. Stephen are selected from the pre-1955 Missal of St. Pius X. Followed by the sermon of Monsignor Thomas Sebastian, Oratory Chapel of St. Francis of Assisi, Society of Christ the King.

INTROIT: Psalm 118: 23, 86, 23

PRINCES SAT, and spoke against me: and the wicked persecuted me: help me O Lord my God, for Thy servant was employed in Thy justifications. Psalm 118:1. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the Law of the Lord. V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be; world without end. Amen. PRINCES SAT, and spoke against me: and the wicked persecuted me: help me O Lord my God, for Thy servant was employed in Thy justifications.

EPISTLE: Acts of the Apostles 6:8 – 10, 7, 54 – 60

IN THOSE DAYS STEPHEN, full of grace and fortitude, did great wonders and signs among the people. Now there arose some of that which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of them that were of Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen: and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit that spoke. Now hearing these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed with their teeth at him. But Stephen, being full of the Holy Ghost, looking up steadfastly to heaven, saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And he said: Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. And they crying out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and with one accord ran violently upon him. And casting him forth without the city, they stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul: and they stoned Stephen, invoking, and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling on his knees, he cried with a loud voice, saying: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep in the Lord.

GRADUAL and ALLELUIA: Psalm 118:23, 86, 6, 5:

PRINCES SAT, and spoke against me: and the wicked persecuted me. V. Help me, O Lord my God: save me for Thy mercy’s sake. Alleluia, Alleluia. V. Acts 7:56, I see the heavens opened, and JESUS standing on the right hand of the power of God. Alleluia.

GOSPEL: St. Matthew 23:34 – 39

AT THAT TIME: JESUS sayeth to the scribes and Pharisees: Behold I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them you will put to death and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city: That upon you may come all the just blood that hath been shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the Just, even unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom you killed between the Temple and the Altar. Amen I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not? Behold, your house shall be left to you, desolate. For I say to you, you shall not see Me henceforth till you say: Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord.

OFFERTORY: Acts 6:5; 7:59

THE APOSTLES CHOSE STEPHEN to be a Levite, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost: whom the Jews stoned invoking and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Alleluia.

COMMUNION VERSE: Acts 7:56, 59, 60

I SEE THE HEAVENS OPENED, and Jesus standing on the right hand of the power of God: Lord Jesus receive my spirit, and lay not this sin to their charge.

SERMON of Monsignor Sebastian:

And casting him forth without the city, they stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul: and they stoned Stephen, invoking, and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. – Acts of the Apostles 7:57 – 58

SAINT STEPHEN, glorious Deacon of Jerusalem and First Martyr on account of his love and fidelity to Christ Jesus, Our Lord, Our God and Our King, is celebrated with great solemnity every year on the day after we celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord. He was one of the original seven Deacons appointed by the Apostles to assist in the distribution of food and alms to the poor and to share in the ceremonial rites of the Apostolic Mass (cf. Acts 6:5 ff.); this passage from Sacred Scripture also proves the Office of Deacon as a proper ministerial role and not simply “helpers” as we read they were set before the Apostles; and they praying, imposed hands upon them (ibid).

Devotion to this dear martyred Saint originated with the Apostles themselves who taught the faithful about his devotion and self-sacrifice, and his feast was immediately placed on the Liturgical Calendar on the day that follows Christ’s Nativity. As we know, saints are venerated and honoured because they witness the truth of Christ and are found in His likeness. When we read of S. Stephen’s martyrdom we learn that he not only offered his life willingly but prayed that his murders be forgiven; and falling on his knees, he cried with a loud voice, saying: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep in the Lord (Acts 7:59). It is also quite interesting that at his death we learn of the Pharisee Saul, who later becomes the Apostle Paul after his conversion, and when he was converted the Lord appeared to him to encourage his Baptism, to which he responded: And I said: Lord, they know that I cast into prison, and beat in every synagogue, them that believed in Thee. And when the blood of Stephen Thy witness was shed, I stood by and consented, and kept the garments of them that killed him (Acts 22:19 – 20). The Apostle never wearied of confessing and repenting of his transgressions against Holy Stephen and Christ’s True Church (cf. I Corinthians 15:9, Philippians 3:5 – 6, Galatians 1:13). This is not on account of his fear that he was not forgiven, but rather as a confirmation that he was forgiven and was forever grateful for God’s boundless mercy.

Now I wish to draw your attention to another great martyrdom which we shall commemorate in two days’ time: that of the Holy Innocents. For many years now we have equated their feast with the heinous crime of abortion, and without diminishing that association I wish to add to it: when Herod the King, as we read in S. Matthew’s Gospel, finds that the Holy Magi had left his territory without betraying the Holy Family his rage and jealously for power maddened him: Then Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the Wise Men, was exceeding angry; and sending killed all the men children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the Wise Men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremias the Prophet, saying: A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not (S. Matthew 2:16 – 18).

Now in this our age, in fact just this Christmastide, another wicked tyrant who is exceeding angry has sent forth his agents to “spiritually” kill any and all who are faithful to Sacred Tradition and the Holy and Immemorial Rites of the Church. Now those of us who reject him as having no authority [to change] what the Holy Church holds sacred, right and necessary for salvation, that is the Holy Sacraments, continue to be comforted by the promise of the Saviour that His Church should not fail, even to the gates of hell (cf. S. Matthew 16:17), and that He shall remain with His Church unto the consummation of the world (ibid. 28:20). We must pray diligently for the immediate and complete conversion of Francis-Bergoglio and his henchman who seek the life of the Holy Church; we must raise our voices loud and clear, but not like the voice in Rama that was of grief and loss; but of strength and joy like S. Stephen, because they may harm and even kill our bodies, but they can never harm or truly take away our Holy Faith and the Canonised Mass of the One True Church, as the Saviour teaches us to, fear not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell (S. Matthew 10:28).

Doesn’t it seem incongruous to speak of such sorrow and horror the day after the joyful feast of the Nativity? But this is our Holy Faith: If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, and cast away himself? For he that shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him the Son of man shall be ashamed, when He shall come in His majesty, and that of His Father, and of the holy angels (S. Luke 9:23 – 26). Again, I say there is true joy that we speak of on this day, so that we are not overtaken by the earthly loss of the Martyrs, for if we be part of the conversion of those who seek ill upon us and Christ’s Church, with the greatest love and charity, we can rejoice with heaven, as the Lord promises: I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance… So I say to you, there shall be joy before the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance (S. Luke 15:7, 10).

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. We love you. Save souls. Amen.