Would you die for the truth?
On December 25th, we celebrate the birth of our Savior: his innocence, his vulnerability, his kingship; however, on December 26th, the Church switches our attention from the innocent Christ-Child born in Bethlehem to the celebration of the first adult martyr, St. Stephen. Why would the Church take our focus off of such a beautiful, contemplative scene, liturgically? All of us love those things associated with the Nativity: the announcement of the angels, the shepherds’ bewilderment, the peaceful gaze of Mary and Joseph.
Why, then, would the Church turn our gaze to the stoning of Stephen from the Acts of the Apostles the very next day on the liturgical calendar? Is the Church that macabre? Is it that gruesome and ghastly to interrupt our peaceful Christmas celebrations?
The answer is: no. No, the Church doesn’t want to torture our feasting; however, it does want to teach us a hard truth: Would you (or I) die for the Truth of this Christ-Child just born? The question seems hyperbolic and melodramatic, yet Christ’s coming into the world of history always has this stark reality to it. In a few days the Church will hold up the Holy Innocents— all those boys under two years of age that King Herod martyred in Bethlehem— those infants and toddlers that unknowingly offered their lives for this Savior-King that they never met or even comprehended. It seems unfair these baby boys had to make such a sacrifice. However, this same Christ-Child rewarded them richly in paradise. Christ’s coming into our lives and our world is always dramatic, because we often are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.
While many of us will not have to die for our faith as Stephen or these Holy Innocents did, their lives teach us that we will have to stand up for it in a society that is more disenchanted with God. According to Pew Research, the number of young adults that self-identify as the “none-affliated” (the NONES) is up 7% since 2007 (from 16% to 23%), and those that say they do not believe in God is up 11% to now 33% in American culture. The stats are startling. What seems to account for this? Why should it matter to us?
The image attached to this meditation of Saul of Tarsus (later St. Paul) sitting in the background watching Stephen’s stoning may give us a hint. While Saul certainly wasn’t one of the non-affiliated, Saul’s sitting on a rock and watching the injustice of Stephen’s stoning is a poignant example of what happens if we don’t witness to the truth. People may not be affiliated with anything religious these days, but in the process of not standing up for the things truly of God, injustices occur everyday that need remedying. This is why Jesus aptly says, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force” (Mt 11:3). When it comes to following the Word Made Flesh, one cannot be non-affiliated. His presence always forces us to choose. If we don’t choose, then his Presence in our world is further diminished. Like Stephen, we must witness to the Christ-Child born yesterday, who has no other hands in the world but ours, no other feet but ours, no other voice but ours (St. Teresa of Avila).
This choice is a blessed choice, however. It involves following a person, a Divine Person, into a whole life we’ve never imagined. It only takes courage. We must be courageous enough to witness with ourselves to this Truth that we’ve found in following Jesus. His teachings are always mercy towards us and our salvation. For God says to the prophet Jeremiah: “I know well the plans I have in mind for you—oracle of the LORD—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope” (Jer 29:11).
The only way we have this courage of Stephen or the consolation of Jeremiah comes, first, from daily listening to the Word of God. We must let the Word of God penetrate us through Ignatian contemplation, daily mental prayer.
This Christmas season: we make a resolution to listen in daily mental prayer/lectio divina/Ignatian contemplation to the Silent Word, to this ineffable Word, that has so much to teach us.
Let us follow Mary’s example in these days, who began learning that holy night how to ponder the Word in her heart, storing up all these things as treasures that transformed her whole life (Lk 2:9).
The contemplation of this Holy Crib transforms our whole life, because His is a Word that cuts between soul and spirit, joints and marrow...living and effective, because the Truth— Jesus Himself— is a Person, a Truth, that loves each of us unconditionally.
Author: Adam Hauser, English Department
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