Your Twenty-first Century “New” New Year’s Resolutions

Come on, most everyone is a slacker when it comes to New Year’s resolutions.  Since New Year’s Resolutions are a practice run for Lenten resolutions, and Lent is when you are supposed to help heal your body, mind and soul, not just your ego, it is time you had some new, more creative, much more imaginative resolutions for both occasions.

As for the annual New Year's resolutions, you might as well call them your Fantasy Game Resolutions, like fantasy football.  Playing fantasy football does not put you on the field or in the game, you just pretend.  It is the same with most New Year’s resolutions.  For thousands of years we have celebrated New Years.

New Year's Day was first celebrated in 45 B.C. on January 1 for the first time in history as the Julian calendar took effect. Soon after becoming Roman dictator, Julius Caesar decided that the traditional Roman calendar was in dire need of reform.

The earliest recorded festivities in honor of a new year’s arrival date back some 4,000 years to ancient Babylon. For the Babylonians, the first new moon following the vernal equinox—the day in late March with an equal amount of sunlight and darkness—heralded the start of a new year.

They marked the occasion with a massive religious festival called Akitu (derived from the Sumerian word for barley, which was cut in the spring) that involved a different ritual on each of its 11 days.

In addition to the new year, Atiku celebrated the mythical victory of the Babylonian sky god Marduk over the evil sea goddess Tiamat and served an important political purpose: It was during this time that a new king was crowned or that the current ruler’s divine mandate was symbolically renewed.

With such significance put on the New Year and thanks to Roman Emperor Julius Caesar changing the calendar, we have celebrated on the same day, New Year’s Eve, for a couple of thousand years.  One can only assume mankind has evolved since those early days and we now indulge in a rather benign series of dos and don’ts called New Year Resolutions.

In other words, kinder and friendlier stuff that will not add too much stress to your already stressful life.  Do eat healthier food.  Do not eat sugar saturated junk food.  Do get more exercise (as if that defines any real obligation).  Do not eat candy and sweets, as if about everything you eat did not have sugar.  Join the latest diet fad.  Give up smoking.  Do not drink so much booze.  Do go to church more often.  Do not pile up so much credit card debt.

You get the message.

If we ever really did do any of those resolutions the world would be a much kinder, gentler, yes benign place to live.

So, look around you.  Do you see any evidence of success, or sustained success?

We have the most expensive health care system in the world yet we are sicker, fatter, more out of shape, more stressed out and more over-medicated to legal drugs, illegal drugs and other synthetic poison than ever before.

Perhaps there is a reason our automobile manufacturers keep announcing they are no longer building normal passenger cars, but adding new lines of behemoth SUVs and light trucks to replace cars.  We no longer fit in passenger cars, we need bigger and bigger mechanical monsters to bear our weight.

Sometimes it seems we have a self-defeating attitude about picking resolutions that often try to address our real problems or flaws or addictions that have not been solved in our lifetime.  We hope to accomplish something good to feel good about failing at another resolution.

Maybe we take solace in the fact “trying” to do something is better than doing nothing at all but is it really?  I suspect it just lets us get away with the fantasy approach to discipline.  Six months later after the resolution is broken and nothing changed in your life.

So where do we start?

Seek out the truth in all things.

Our first resolution should be to seek out the truth about how to get healthier.  There is so much untruth in labelling it is often confusing, if not downright deceptive.  Just saying something is true does not make it true.  Eating less sugar does not mean just the granules you put in coffee or tea, or on cereal.  Most everything you consume has sugar or salt intended to get you addicted to the food, and boy is that ever a friendly addiction.

Sodas, sweets and salt are the real sources of addiction because at a very early age it is thrown at us to shut us up, bribe us, make us feel good or simply teach self-indulgence.  Of course, no one is to blame for the primal addictions we force on our children that will eventually kill you but that is beside the case.  There are a lot of people who contribute to this childhood addiction including parents, grandparents, doctors, teachers, coaches and, believe it or not, you.

Heal yourself first.

Jesus once said to heal yourself before you can heal others as he said to forgive yourself before you can forgive others.  What he was saying to us is God created us and gave us gifts but we must take responsibility to use them as God intended.

In other words, we must take responsibility for our own self, for our body, mind and soul.  You must take responsibility through knowledge.  Use knowledge to learn about your addictions.  Learn why you let yourself be a repeat victim to habits that are self-destructive and sometimes fatal.

By learning you gain knowledge, with knowledge you might gain wisdom.  Accumulating knowledge is the first step, knowing what to do with it is wisdom.

   

God gave you a body and mind, and the free will to make choices.

These choices can either help or hurt you.  Only you, not your doctor, priest, rabbi, minister, imam, monk, teacher, shrink or family knows you like you do.

Take responsibility, do not delegate to an outside source because it only gives you someone else to blame for your woes.  Besides, by now you should be asking yourself if those outside sources have really helped you eliminate the addictions they were treating, and without prescription drugs.

Are you joyful?  Are you happy?  Are you healthy?  Do you set a good example for others?  Or are you just passing on your own hang ups to your children?

In Truth addictions are just another way of giving up.  They are the modern-day rationalization of explaining away your own inattention and lack of responsibility for your own choices, actions and failures.  Additions are the modern-day form of slavery.

Modern-day slavery.

All forms of addictions from health to digital to financial lead to obsession and depression.  Once you accept them as real or try to ignore them as not reflecting you, they seem to take possession of your mind and your life.

Modern addictions like the digital addiction are the twenty-first century form of slavery, perhaps even far more dangerous than those we carried over from the twentieth century like prescription drugs, pain killers, anti-depression drugs, illegal drugs, alcohol and smoking.

Digital addiction runs counter to everything we, as living and breathing creations of God are meant to be.  It stops natural contact and communication with other people, real people.  It often leads you to the creation of false identities hiding behind the Facebook, Instagram, Twitter ad other social media forums.

It depersonalizes us into mere false identities in a virtual world where no rules, ethics, orality, or common sense guide our actions.  We do not take responsibility for the alter-egos we create nor the consequences that result.  Hiding behind them on the Internet we can accept fake news, lies, distortions, and create chaos, bully and character assassinate others.  It is all part of our detached fantasy world.

In Truth it is no more real than the fantasy we create for our alter-ego.

Artificial Intelligence is the God of technology and machine world.

Artificial Intelligence is the God of technology and the machine world, because it knows everything there is to know that is available and it has the processing speed to instantly compile, analyze and make decisions.  The algorithms of AI are taking away your mind, your creative thinking, your imagination, and your ability to communicate with others.

Digital addiction is the result when you delegate all decisions to the machines and their clever algorithms.  It creates a new you guided by fantasy and not fact.  But the AI God creating it has no ethics, no morality, no common sense and no concern for you or your mind and body beyond profiling you from your dependence on them.

AI overwhelms you with choices, while it saps your energy, shuts down your creativity and imagination, and blocks you from direct, old fashioned face-to-face communication with real people.  All the while it is telling you how to think, what to think, what you need to buy, where to go, and how to get there.

It is your very own Godless Puppet Master and you are dancing on the stage at the end of those Wi-Fi links and endless apps.  You are living the destiny decided by the Puppet Master, not your own destiny, your own path.  You have weakly succumbed to delegating a substantial part of your life to a machine-made set of rules and principles based not on right or wrong, but trends and habits.  Yet you are responsible for what it told you to do, not the Godless One.

Truth about health, life and destiny.

Your twenty-first century resolutions should be to seek out the Truth about your health, life and destiny.  You should take responsibility for identifying your addictions and for overcoming them.

You should especially address regaining control of your body, mind, spirit and soul from the ever-expanding tentacles of Artificial Intelligence with their seemingly harmless algorithms.

Only humans, with their knowledge, moral and ethical standards, and a dose of common sense know what is best for other humans because AI was created by humans, while we were created by God.

Communicate with real people.

Vow to communicate with real people more, face-to-face, because only humans can express and demonstrate how emotions and passion, not found in the AI digital world, can transform those around us.  We can share joy, spread good cheer, be kind and nice, none of which the God of the Virtual World can duplicate.  No algorithm has been able to recreate the Perfect Love of God or Jesus, essential to empowering our life on Earth.

Laugh, love and live joy while encouraging and energizing those you encounter.

Use this information as a basis for your resolutions and you might actually become human again.  In all things ask not just “What Would Jesus Do (WWJD), but ask What Would God Do (WWGD), and you will be accepting your responsibilities as one of God’s creations.

Forsake the darkness and embrace the light and finally have a real Happy New Year.

The Twelve Days of Christmas – December 28 - The Feast of the Holy Innocents

December 28, is the Feast of the Holy Innocents honoring the baby boys of Bethlehem killed by Herod the Great, the Roman-appointed King of the Jews, in order to stop the birth of the new Messiah.  It was a desperate act by this torn king fearful that the coming King of Kings would usurp him.  You see, he was a brutal yet great builder, but his fear of Jesus drove him to become a fruitless mass murder.

His victims, the baby boys of Bethlehem, are honored on this day for they were instrumental in providing cover so the Baby Jesus could be saved.  The original intent was specifically for these children.  Over the years other causes have jumped on the bandwagon laying claim to the feast.

This is the fourth day of the Twelve Days of Christmas, and the third feast day in a row (St. Stephen and St. John).  The Twelve Days span from the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day to the Feast of the Epiphany, the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi (Matthew 2:1–12).

On January 6 we celebrate the Epiphany, the day the Magi, Wise Men, and the many other prominent long-distance travelers arriving at the stable to honor the new Messiah.  A magnificent Star of Bethlehem illuminated the sky like a beacon guiding them home.  From kings, princes, priests, and rulers to shepherds and angels they were drawn to the Baby in the Manger.

This third feast in a row, the Feast of the Innocents, honors those innocent victims of King Herod who also died in their service to Jesus and Father Creator.  Such a cowardly act by Herod that he should decide the fate of the new Messiah.

How arrogant for any human being to believe their Will was all-powerful like the Will of Father Creator.  They have no concept of the power of the Creator’s Perfect Love for all of Creation.

In this day and age, it is so easy to get caught up in the frenzied, frantic, freaky, and fear-filled minds of the people.  It is like a giant vacuum hose sucking everything in sight down into an endless Black Hole leading to the abyss.

But enough of this babble, we know the frayed edges of humanity where wounds are laid open and can never be healed is alive and well, but we can free ourselves of the dark influence.

You want to find inspiration and hope?

Seek out a quiet place and meditate.  Purge your mind of all the worldly distractions, and free your spirit of all those other-worldly distractions.  It may take some effort, but you can achieve this pathway to enlightenment.

When you achieve the state of peace and solitude ask Jesus to activate the Holy Spirit within you, long dormant while awaiting your call for help.  As you have drifted farther and farther away from Jesus, who is the pathway to Father Creator, the Dark Side has harvested more and more weak and fear-laden Souls.

Rule number one in Creation, it is foolhardy to attempt to usurp control over any of the Creator’s Creations.  Whatever action you take to accumulate power and possessions never intended for individuals and are not yours to take, is a direct affront to the Creator.

You can kiss off the Kingdom and embrace the void of the abyss where contaminated souls are transformed into anti-matter for all eternity.  Perhaps you might call that Hell.

At present there are a considerable number of lost or contaminated souls walking the Earth who collectively represent a roadblock to salvation in the Kingdom for all others.  Do not be surprised if substantial numbers of these contaminants are suddenly taken from the Earth to clear a better path for those of faith, or those who will seek out and find faith given a chance.

Not all of the seeds that are planted will grow, some must die away so that others will thrive.

And now back to our pathway to enlightenment.  You are meditating, free of the worries and burdens of the real world, and beyond reach of the bad influences of the spirit world.  Now what?

I mentioned you must ask Jesus to activate the Holy Spirit within you, long dormant while awaiting your call for help.  What that means is Jesus is calling for the Holy Spirit to awaken in you those memories or DNA coding of the path to the truth.  Jesus is the path to the truth and the truth guiding your salvation is knowing the Perfect Love of Father Creator is already within you.

When the Creator made Creation, to make it complete, the Creator became part of His own creation, not just humans but all life forces of his own Creation, thus everything that is has a life force of the perfect love of the Father.

End of lesson for the day.

The Twelve Days of Christmas - December 27 - Feast of St. John the Evangelist

Feast of St. John the Evangelist, December 27

Today we honor St. John the Evangelist, December 27, and does he pack a lot in his resume.  It seems he is in quite good standing with God and Jesus, because he was the only Apostle not martyred.  He was too busy writing the story to get caught up in the action.  Perhaps that is what drew me to a life of writing.

Today is the third day in the octave of Christmas. The Church celebrates the Feast of St. John, apostle and evangelist.  According to Catholic Culture, he was born in Bethsaida, he was called while mending his nets to follow Jesus. He became the beloved disciple of Jesus. He wrote the fourth Gospel, three Epistles and the Apocalypse. His passages on the pre-existence of the Word, who by His Incarnation became the light of the world and the life of our souls, are among the finest of the New Testament. 

He is the evangelist of the divinity of Christ and His fraternal love. With James, his brother, and Simon Peter, he was one of the witnesses of the Transfiguration. At the Last Supper, he leans on the Master's breast. At the foot of the cross, Jesus entrusts His Mother to his care. John's pure life kept him very close to Jesus and Mary in years to come. John was exiled to the island of Patmos under Emperor Domitian.    

The Twelve Days of Christmas begin on December 25, the celebration of the birth of our Savior Jesus.  Of course there are probably not many of you who even know there is a "Twelve Days of Christmas" celebration, let alone that it dates from the Fifth Century, which happens to be sixteen centuries ago.   

Perhaps this seems more familiar for the modern person.

 

[Oops, FAKE NEWS]

 

Sometime in November, as things now stand, the "Christmas season" begins. The streets are hung with lights, the stores are decorated with red and green, and you can't turn on the radio without hearing songs about the spirit of the season and the glories of Santa Claus. The excitement builds to a climax on the morning of December 25, and then it stops, abruptly. Christmas is over, the New Year begins, and people go back to their normal lives.

The Twelve Days of Christmas - December 26 - Feast of St. Stephen

It is day two in the Twelve Days of Christmas, December 26, and record crowds are making it one the largest shopping sprees of the year as people return all the stuff they do not want, exchange stuff to get the right size, and simply put, drive the economy into high gear.

The Money Lenders are smiling as cash registers rings or credit cards get sucked dry in this feeding frenzy.  What a shame to see the state to which we have descended.

Things were not always like this after the Resurrection of Jesus.  In fact, just two years after Jesus died one of the Seven Deacons selected by St. Peter to assist the Apostles, became the first martyr of the followers of Jesus.

Stephen's Holy Ghost inspired role as one of the most successful Intercessors since Jesus set the example for ages to come, including to this day.  Miracles were performed by Stephen in the name of the Lord and Jesus at a pace never seen since.  Later in this story you can read much more about the astonishing life and ministry of Stephen, but for the moment, just contemplate on what you did not know about this first of all Christian martyrs.

St Augustine said; “If St. Stephen had not prayed, the Church would never have had St. Paul.”

Stephen prayed, he used his Intercessor role to influence God to grant many needs and wishes.  Though not an Apostle, his influence on Saul, later to become Paul, and many, many other converts, was exactly what Jesus asked of his disciples.

When Good King Wenceslas provided food to a poor man gathering winter fuel on St. Stephen's Day, he began the tradition of doing acts of charity on December 26. St. Stephen's Day is also Boxing Day.Add caption

Boxer Day - Canada and former British Commonwealth members

Martha Perkins of the Vancouver Courier

Today, while many countries Commonwealth traditions offer Boxing Day as a holiday, it was an especially important day off for staff in Pepys’ day. They all had to work on Christmas Day to ensure the day was “happy and bright” for the gentry and upper classes. Who else would empty the chamber pots, keep the fireplaces stoked and prepare and serve the glorious Christmas feast?

On December 26, while the gentry slept off the over-indulgences of the day before, tradesmen and house staff finally got to celebrate their own Christmas. One tradition was to open boxes their employers had filled with gifts, money, hand-me-downs and even some leftover food from Christmas dinner.

When Good King Wencelas provided food to a poor man gathering winter fuel on St. Stephen's Day, he began the tradition of doing acts of charity on December 26. St. Stephen's Day is also Boxing Day. 

Boxing Day is also known as St. Stephen's Day. And it was Good King Wencelas who, back in the 10th century, made that day famous as a day of gift-giving.

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the Feast of Stephen...

When a poor man came in sight
Gath'ring winter fuel...

"Bring me flesh and bring me wine
Bring me pine-logs hither
Thou and I shall see him dine
When we bear them thither."

Therefore, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
Ye, who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing.

Call it St. Stephen's Day or Boxing Day, but it is supposed to be a time when we do acts of charity for those less fortunate than us.

If you venture out on Boxing Day today, both of those traditions seem to be lost. It used to be that Boxing Day truly was the second day of Christmas. Stores were closed and everyone simply enjoyed another day of rest or playing with their presents. Boxing Day sales were postponed to December 27. 

Sara Evans Twelve Days of Christmas

(Double click for full screen)

The Meaning Behind the 12 Days of Christmas
A Spiritual Archives Story from All-Creatures.org

The Meaning Behind the 12 Days of Christmas

Submitted 3 Dec 1999 by: John Z Gardiner   EurekaJohn@aol.com

Hi All, this was sent to me today, it ties into the discussion of the meaning behind various hymns and carols. -John Z Gardiner

The 12 Days of Christmas -- The Rest of the Story

When most people hear of "The 12 Days of Christmas", they think of the song. This song had its origins as a teaching tool to instruct young people in the meaning and content of the Christian faith.

Each of the items in the song represents something of religious significance. The hidden meaning of each gift was designed to help young Christians learn their faith. The song goes, "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me..."

The "true love" represents God and the "me" who receives these presents is the Christian. Here you go:

The "partridge in a pear tree" was Jesus Christ who died on a tree as a gift from God.

The "two turtle doves" were the Old and New Testaments - another gift from God.

The "three French hens" were faith, hope and love - the three gifts of the Spirit that abide (I Corinthians 13).

The "four calling birds" were the four Gospels which sing the song of salvation through Jesus Christ.

The "five golden rings" were the first five books of the Bible also called the "Books of Moses". 

The "six geese a-laying" were the six days of creation.

The "seven swans a swimming" were the "seven gifts of the Holy Spirit". (I Corinthians 12:8-11; Romans 12, Ephesians 4; I Peter 4:10-11).

The "eight maids a milking" were the eight beatitudes.

The "nine ladies dancing" were nine fruits of the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 5:22 & 23)

The "ten lords a-leaping" were the Ten Commandments.

The "eleven pipers piping" were the eleven faithful disciples.

The "twelve drummers drumming" were the twelve points of the Apostles' Creed.

So, the next time you hear "The 12 Days of Christmas", consider how this otherwise non-religious sounding song had its origins in the Christian faith.

St. Stephen - Arch-Deacon,

Intercessor, and first martyr.

  

St. Stephen, the First Martyr
by Dom Prosper Gueranger, 1870 

St. Peter Damian thus begins his Sermon for this Feast: "We are holding in our arms the Son of the "Virgin, and are honouring, with our caresses, this our Infant God. The holy Virgin has led us to the dear Crib. The most beautiful of the Daughters of men has brought us to the most beautiful among the Sons of men, and the Blessed among women to Him that is Blessed above all. She tell us that now the veils of prophecy are drawn aside, and the counsel of God is accomplished. Is there anything capable of distracting us from this sweet Birth? On what else shall we fix our eyes? Lo! whilst Jesus is permitting us thus to caress Him; whilst He is overwhelming us with the greatness of these mysteries, and our hearts are riveted in admiration--there comes before us Stephen, full of grace and fortitude, doing great wonders and signs among the people? Is it right, that we turn from our King, to look on Stephen, His soldier? No--unless the King himself bid us do so. This our King, who is Son of the King, rises to assist at the glorious combat of His servant. Let us go with him, and contemplate this standard-bearer of the Martyrs."

The Church gives us, in today's Office, this opening of a
Sermon of St. Fulgentius for the Feast of St. Stephen: 

"Yesterday, we celebrated the temporal "Birth of our eternal King: today, we celebrate the triumphant passion of His Soldier. Yesterday, our King, having put on the garb of our flesh, came from the sanctuary of His Mother's virginal womb, and mercifully visited the earth: today, His Soldier, quitting his earthly tabernacle, entered triumphantly into heaven. Jesus, whilst still continuing to be the eternal God, assumed to Himself the lowly raiment of flesh, and entered the battlefield of this world: Stephen, laying aside the perishable garment of the body, ascended to the palace of heaven, there to reign for ever. Jesus descended veiled in our flesh: Stephen ascended wreathed with a martyr's laurels. Stephen ascended to heaven amidst the shower of stones, because Jesus had descended on earth midst the singing of Angels. Yesterday, the holy Angels exultingly sang, Glory be to God in the highest; today, they joyously received Stephen into their company. Yesterday, was Jesus wrapped, for our sakes, in swaddling-clothes: today, was Stephen clothed with the robe of immortal glory. Yesterday, a narrow crib contained the Infant Jesus: today, the immensity of the heavenly court received the triumphant Stephen."

Thus does the sacred Liturgy blend the joy of our Lord's Nativity with the gladness she feels at the triumph of the first of her Martyrs. Nor will Stephen be the only one admitted to share the honours of this glorious Octave. After him, we shall have John, the Beloved Disciple; the Innocents of Bethlehem ; Thomas, the Martyr of the Liberties of the Church; and Sylvester, the Pontiff of Peace. But, the place of honour amidst all who stand round the Crib of the new-born King, belongs to Stephen, the Proto-Martyr, who, as the Church sings of him, was " the first to pay back to the Saviour, the Death " suffered by the Saviour." It was just, that this honour should be shown to Martyrdom; for, Martyrdom is the Creature's testimony, and return to his Creator for all the favours bestowed on him: it is Man's testifying, even by shedding his blood, to the truths which God has revealed to the world.

In order to understand this, let us consider what is the plan of God, in the salvation he has given to man. The Son of God is sent to instruct mankind; He sows the seed of His divine word; and His works give testimony to His divinity. But, after His sacrifice on the cross, He again ascends to the right hand of His Father; so that His own testimony of Himself has need of a second testimony, in order to its being received by them that have neither seen nor heard Jesus Himself. Now, it is the Martyrs who are to provide this second testimony; and this they will do, not only by confessing Jesus with their lips, but by shedding their blood for Him. The Church, then, is to be founded by the Word and the Blood of Jesus, the Son of God; but she will be upheld, she will continue throughout all ages, she will triumph over all obstacles, by the blood of her Martyrs, the members of Christ: this their blood will mingle with that of their Divine Head, and their sacrifice be united to His.

The Martyrs shall bear the closest resemblance to their Lord and King. They shall be, as he said, like lambs among wolves (St. Luke, x. 3). The world shall be strong, and they shall be weak and defenceless: so much the grander will be the victory of the Martyrs, and the greater the glory of God who gives them to conquer. The Apostle tells us, that Christ crucified is the power and the wisdom of God (I. Cor. i. 24);--the Martyrs, immolated, and yet conquerors of the world, will prove, and with a testimony which even the world itself will understand, that the Christ whom they confessed, and who gave them constancy and victory, is in very deed the power and the wisdom of God. We repeat, then--it is just, that the Martyrs should share in all the triumphs of the Man-God, and that the liturgical Cycle should glorify them as does the Church herself, who puts their sacred Relics in her altar-stones; for, thus, the Sacrifice of their glorified Lord and Head is never celebrated, without they themselves being offered together with him, in the unity of His mystical Body.

Now, the glorious Martyr-band of Christ is headed by St. Stephen. His name signifies the Crowned; a conqueror like him could not be better named. He marshals, in the name of Christ, the white-robed army, as the Church calls the Martyrs; for, he was the first, even before the Apostles themselves, to receive the summons, and right nobly did he answer it. Stephen courageously bore witness, in the presence of the Jewish Synagogue, to the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth; by thus proclaiming the Truth, he offended the ears of the unbelievers; the enemies of God, became the enemies of Stephen, and, rushing upon him, they stone him to death. Amidst the pelting of the blood-drawing missives, he, like a true soldier, flinches not, but stands, (as St. Gregory of Nyssa so beautifully describes it) as though snowflakes were falling on him, or roses were covering him with the shower of their kisses. Through the cloud of stones, he sees the glory of God; Jesus, for whom he was laying down his life, showed Himself to his Martyr, and the Martyr again rendered testimony to the divinity of our Emmanuel, but with all the energy of a last act of love. Then, to make his sacrifice complete, he imitates his divine Master, and prays for his executioners: falling on his knees, he begs that this sin be not laid to their charge. Thus, all is consummated--the glorious type of Martyrdom is created, and shown to the world, that it may be imitated, by every generation, to the end of time, until the number of the Martyrs of Christ shall be filled up. Stephen sleeps in the Lord, and is buried in peace--in pace--until his sacred Tomb shall be discovered, and his glory be celebrated a second time in the whole Church, by that anticipated Resurrection of the miraculous Invention of his Relics.

Stephen, then, deserves to stand near the Crib of his King, as leader of those brave champions, the Martyrs, "who died for the Divinity of that Babe, whom we adore. Let us join the Church in praying to our Saint, that he help us to come to our Sovereign Lord, now lying on his humble throne in Bethlehem. Let us ask him to initiate us into the mystery of that divine Infancy, which we are all bound to know and imitate. It was from the simplicity he had learnt from that Mystery, that he heeded not the number of the enemies he had to fight against, nor trembled at their angry passion, nor winced under their blows, nor hid from them the Truth and their crimes, nor forgot to pardon them and pray for them. What a faithful imitator of the Babe of Bethlehem! Our Jesus did not send his Angels to chastise those unhappy Bethlehemites, who refused a shelter to the Virgin-Mother, who in a few hours was to give birth to Him, the Son of David. He stays not the fury of Herod, who plots his Death--but meekly flees into Egypt, like some helpless bondsman, escaping the threats of a tyrant lordling. But, it is under such apparent weakness as this, that He will show His Divinity to men, and He the Infant-God prove Himself the Strong God. Herod will pass away, so will his tyranny; Jesus will live, greater in His Crib, where be makes a King tremble, than is, under his borrowed majesty, this prince-tributary of Rome; nay, than Caesar-Augustus himself, whose world-wide empire has no other destiny than this--to serve as handmaid to the Church, which is to be founded by this Babe, whose name stands humbly written in the official registry of Bethlehem.

Prayer:

With these praises, which the venerable ages of old offered to thee, O Prince and First of Martyrs! we presume to unite ours. Fervently do we congratulate thee, that thou hast had assigned thee, by the Church, the place of honour at the Crib of our Jesus. How glorious the confession thou didst make of His Divinity, whilst thy executioners were stoning thee! How rich and bright the scarlet thou art clad in, for thy victory! How honourable the wounds thou didst receive for Christ! How immense, and yet how choice, that army of Martyrs, which follows thee as its leader, and to which fresh recruits will for ever be added, to the end of time!

Holy Martyr! help us, by thy prayers, to enter into the spirit of the mystery of the Word made Flesh, now that we are celebrating the Birth of our Saviour. Thou art the faithful guardsman of His Crib; who could better lead us to the Divine Babe, that lies there? Thou didst bear testimony to His Divinity and Humanity; thou didst preach this Man God before the blaspheming Synagogue. In vain did the Jews stop their ears; they could not stifle thy voice, which charged them with deicide, in that they had put to death Him, who is at once the Son of Mary and the Son of God. Show this Redeemer to us also, not, indeed, standing in glory at the right hand of his Father, but the sweet and humble Babe, as He now manifests Himself to the world, into which He has just been born, wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and laid in a manger. We, too, wish to bear witness to Him, and to tell how His Birth is one of love and mercy; we wish to show, by our lives, that He has been born in our hearts. Obtain for us that devotedness to the Divine Infant, which gave thee such courage on the day of trial: we shall have devotedness, if, like thee, we are simple-hearted and fearless in our love of Jesus; for love is stronger than death. May we never forget, that every Christian ought to be ready for martyrdom, simply because he is a Christian. May the life of Christ, which has again begun within us, so grow within us, by our fidelity and our conduct, that we may come, as the Apostle expresses it, to the fullness of Christ (Eph. iv. 13).

But, be mindful, O glorious Martyr! be mindful of the Holy Church in those countries, where it is the will of God that she resist even unto blood. May the number of thy fellow-martyrs be thus filled up, and let not one of the combatants grow faint-hearted. May every age and sex be staunch; that so, the testimony may be perfect, and the Church, even in her old age, win immortal laurels and crowns, as in the freshness of her infancy, when she had such a champion as thyself. But, pray, too, that the blood of these Martyrs may be fruitful, as it was in times past; pray that it be not wasted, but become the seed of abundant harvests. May infidelity lose ground, and heresy cease to canker those noble hearts, who, once in the Truth, would be the glory and consolation of the Church. Our own dear Land has had her Martyrs, who, in the hope that God would avenge their blood by restoring her to the Faith, gladly suffered and died--oh! Prince of Martyrs! pray, that this their hope may be speedily fulfilled.

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