ST.  STEPHEN’S  OR 

FORGIVENESS DAY

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “St. Stephen’s Or Forgiveness Day.”

Today can be called just that. I’m assuming that this first day after Christmas, because St. Stephen was the first martyr,  the Church decides to use it for the first  feast after Christmas.

FORGIVENESS

I read somewhere - I wish I remember where - that the really unique message of Christianity is forgiveness. The writer said it’s unique among world religions that this is our primary stress - even more than love.

Love is certainly a central theme in world religions. Every group has the Golden Rule in some form - but forgiveness: no,

For some reason, out of the many things I read, I remembered that - but don’t remember the source.

Question for all of us Christians: is forgiveness central to our way of believing and seeing and being?

Translation: do we practice unconditional forgiveness?

ST. STEPHEN

Today’s first reading from The Acts of the Apostles ends at verse 59.  It leaves our verse 60.

Verse 59 reads as we heard, “As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’”

Then verse 60 - which ends the 7^th chapter of Acts - goes like this, “Then he fell to his knees and cried in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’ and when he said this, he fell asleep.”

The turkeys. They left out that key verse. Ugh. Yet, I forgive them, for whatever reason they were asleep and missed the message.

And Bibles that give cross references - give at verse 60 the cross reference to Jesus on the Cross - who said just before he died, “Father, forgive them they know not what they do” Luke 23:34.

FORGIVENESS: ONE OF THE GREAT SECRETS OF LIFE

Jesus gave great teachings about how to live life to the full.

Core to many of his teachings is to be aware and care about the impact that our thinking does to our thinking. He tells us to not only put down the rocks - but to unearth and get rid of  those sharp angry rocks that roll around in our memory. If I’ve learned anything about life I’ve learned that people have memories. We remember our hurts and our mistakes - our sins and our disasters.

Learning the message of forgiveness - and unconditionally accepting God’s love for us no matter what we have done or what has been done to us - is very liberating.

Whenever people hear this the but’s butt in. But she knew what she was doing. But he did something horrific. But if you only knew what really happened. But how can I be forgiven on what I have done.

NEWTOWN, CONNECTICUT

We’re still feeling and reeling from the Newtown, Connecticut story. When I read the comments and commentaries in the newspapers or comments on TV,  I notice whether the speaker or writer says, 26, 27 or 28,

I say 28 died that day. I don’t know why folks leave out the Mom. I can understand leaving out Adam Lanza, but 28 were shot that day. Horrible. Horror. Pain. Craziness.

Father forgive him - them - some blame the mother - for they don’t know what they were doing.

With Jesus on the Cross, with Stephen on the ground, both bleeding to death, I say the words of Luke in both Luke and Acts, “Father forgiven them for they don’t know what they are doing” and “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

CONCLUSION

On the day after the Newtown, Connecticut killings, I was reflecting on all this and I wrote a small poetic piece that I put on my blog. Nobody noticed it, so let me conclude by reading it out loud.

                        HOW DOES IT HAPPEN?

            How does it happen when we die?

            Do we all move in a crowd towards God?

            Thomas Merton pictured crowds of people

            like prisoners or displaced people being

            moved from station to station from far

            countries - all those people who died this

            night from all around the world. He

            pictured Hemingway - walking that walk -

            shuffling those steps - after he shot himself.

            How does it happen? What happens next?

            Do all these little kids crowd

            around Adam Lanza and hold him till he

            lets go of whatever it was that killed him

            and them. I don’t know how all this

            horrible stuff happens. Like everyone

            I don’t know how someone could kill a child

            or anyone else, including themselves.

            How does it happen? How, God, how?

OOOOOOO

Painting on top: The Stoning of St. Stephen [c.1780] by Rembrandt. Notice Rembrandt with stone in hand right above Stephen's raised right hand.