The Melchizedek Chronicles – Darkness Descends as People Struggle to Find Hope

As a very sorry chapter in the history of humanity ends, it might be time to step back and ask ourselves what we can do to make sure we never go through it again.  I am not just talking about the cloud of hate, envy, and polarization in American politics and impeachment.

If that were the only problem facing the world, we would be fortunate.

Humans have become progressively under the spell of darkness not just recently, but for thousands of years, despite being forewarned it was coming.  Ancient prophecy and the Book of Revelations from the Bible warned us.

For you to understand what I am going to discuss about the teachings of Melchizedek, you must know what is happening in the world is not good.  From impeachment to war, religious division to bias, and racial and cultural conflict to sins of the past, the Dark Side is very active.

Look around you and you see the collapse of religious, political and social institutions, the corruption in governments, the flare up of racial conflict, economic inequality, expanding slavery to drugs, perversion, and digital mind control, greed, anger, hatred, and a voracious hunger for power.

Clearly, we do not have the answers.  We cannot even work together to find solutions.  If you want to survive today you must trust no one, stop communicating, hide behind an imaginary digital identity, embrace fear, and fail to seek Truth.

But that is okay.  God gave us a Free Will and the odds have always been there is a 50-50 chance we make the wrong decision.

Once upon a time the world worked together to identify flaws, learn what we did not know, solve problems that would benefit all people, and show compassion and concern for everyone.  Today you might have to look long and hard among the seven billion humans to find people with such qualities.

Melchizedek says we have lost our connection to God, our Creator.  Are you open to at least learning how and why?

Let me correct myself.  In saying Melchizedek said we lost our connection to “God” I misspoke.  You see, Melchizedek always refers to God as “The Unknowable One.”

Many a time I got lessons from Melchizedek on how little we know about our Creator who created all we have, are, and will be, see, and experience.  God is clearly The Knowable One, even if I refer to The Unknowable One as God.

We are all the sons and daughters, like Jesus said, of God.  Thousands or millions of years ago our earliest known ancestors, Indigenous ones, clans, and tribes identified the existence of a Creator God.

The Taoists of China and Asia, Persians in the Middle East, ancient Greeks in Europe, Egyptian kings and queens in North Africa, the Jews in a far corner of the Middle East, and pockets of peoples throughout the world all defined a single deity God and Creator.

This happened hundreds to thousands of years before Jesus, the Son of God, came to help us find our way back to God some 2,200 years ago.

We humans have a great deal of history I suspect many of you have forgotten, ignored, or denied the Truth.  Such are the machinations of our failure to make proper use of our Free Will.

Once Melchizedek explained it to me in a very clear way.  He said; “it is too bad humans have such poor judgement.”

Reality -

Where Truth

goes to hide…

Melchizedek

For that reason, God sent His Son to reawaken the people to the Truth.  God created us in the image and likeness of the Creator.  God the Creator will never give up on us, his Creations.  Will you give up on God?

Besides life the Creator also gave us a Free Will to make our own decisions.  Do you follow the path to redemption and salvation in using your Free Will, or do you embrace your own version and agenda?

Do you even know or remember why God created you?

The promise to us from God is spiritual immortality, by returning to our Oneness with God.  Jesus came and taught the path to such immortality.

When our actions and decisions in our physical lives reflect or mirror What God Would Do (WGWD), we have achieved a state of grace and will return to Oneness with God our Creator for eternity.

WGWD

[What Would God Do!]

No one in our physical world can make and deliver on such a promise, no one!  Yet you will face many deceivers in your lifetime offering eternal salvation.  You owe it to yourself to check it out.  Seek out the Truth by asking WGWD!

You must use your God-given Free Will throughout your life.  Do you use it for the right reasons?  Do you mirror WGWD?  Or have you bought into the message, lure, and deception of the shadow dwellers of the Dark Side?

Stay tuned for the next story for where that will lead you.

The Melchizedek Chronicles – Are you prepared for a devastating event in the near future? What will you do if the lights went out?

We all need to know how we will react to a natural disaster, maybe an economic collapse, perhaps a secret scientific experiment gone array, something of that magnitude that disrupts your life plans and instantly whisks your world into chaos.

Melchizedek, nearly four years ago, warned of the coming weather anomalies reaching record shattering dimensions.  Each year weather patterns have deviated farther and farther from normal, with much stronger and more dangerous fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, blizzards, wind shear, you get the idea.

It seems the new weather mutations are now the new normal.  One-hundred-year-old flood records fall almost daily, and the unheard of 500-year flood levels are now being breached.

Coast-to-coast annual rainfall totals shatter previous records while snowfall records have tumbled in a wide swath of Northern states from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, with some snow packs reaching 25 feet deep.

Highly unusual “Cyclone Bombs” have cause massive freak wind storms, major blizzards, and breathtaking floods two years in a row.  Denver International Airport recorded winds of 96 miles per hour, and no tornado or hurricane conditions were present.

Speaking of hurricanes, they are not only on steroids but doing rather bizarre things like rotating in a 360-degree circle, stalling over major Texas cities, and leaving a tragic path of destruction much farther inland than previous storms, even after they become tropical depressions after hitting land.

Tornadoes are now much stronger than before.  Blizzards strike more frequently with greater intensity, and hurricanes spawn more destruction over wider areas than normal times.

Yet, in spite of the weather anomalies and upheavals we have experienced, three of the greatest, most dangerous, unpredictable of all disasters are yet to occur.  Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and solar storms on the Sun, a trio of destroyers who wield so much power the people of the world have no defense against them.

Melchizedek says our science is yet to determine the age of our cosmos and when it does, through mathematics and physics breakthroughs, we will discover creation took place thirty-billion years ago, not the 13.82 billion years old currently speculated.

During our thirty-billion years of existence there were times when the Human Life Cycle evolved, but it was not always in synchronization with the will of the Creator.  In six previous eras of the Human Life Cycle, when mankind became too infatuated with greed and power and lost their way, it had to be stopped and reset, leaving only enough human survivors to repopulate the new Human Life Cycle era.

We are now in the seventh Human Life Cycle on Earth, and most likely, the last.  Are you prepared for the disruptions we will most likely face in the imminent days ahead?  Are you prepared for the real Earth warming and climate change?

While the environmental threats trigger fearful reactions and responses in victims, and just plain fear in those anticipating the storms, perhaps we place too much attention and significance on them and not enough attention on the other possibilities.

According to science and archaeology at least four times in our history the earth has experienced global warming before the existence of a new Ice Age on Earth.  It is the natural progression of the evolution of planet earth, with or without the humans.

Earth's elliptical orbit around the Sun and the degree of tilt of Earth's axis in its path around the Sun, are factors to consider when discussing climate change. In the cycle of Earth’s Great Year, the line off the North Pole axis (extending toward Polaris) scribes a complete circle in the heavens about every 25,800 years.

A complete cycle takes between 25,000 and 28,000 years, depending on the amount of Earth's wobble. One cycle is “Earth’s Great Year” (also called a "Platonic Year.") Climate and atmospheric changes appear to become more acute toward the end and beginning of a new year.

Earth’s Purification and Regeneration Processes

Earth has a built-in, naturally-occurring “force field” around it that creates and helps maintain viable living conditions for its plant and animal inhabitants. The atmosphere contains greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide to keep the Earth warm, and an ozone layer to protect the Earth from harmful and incinerating (burning) radiation.

The Earth also has other means that help it absorb and retain the sun’s heat and energy (such as the oceans) as well as reflect its energy back into space (such as the polar ice caps). Wind and ocean currents also help distribute this heat around the globe, all within the Earth’s protective atmosphere.

The point is that Earth is unique in its ability to create and maintain sustainable living conditions, because all of its systems and influences are connected to each other, from its atmosphere, oceans and land, to its seasons, its living inhabitants, and the sun.

Imagine the impact when a massive meteor crashed into the earth and created the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in so much debris from the explosion being tossed up in the atmosphere of the earth it blocked out the healing rays of the Sun for not days, weeks, or years, but hundreds of years bringing most life forms to a screeching halt.

Another time the Yellowstone Super-volcano exploded out west and the debris field again blocked out the life-saving natural rays of the Sun.  In the process it annihilated the most powerful species to walk the earth, the dinosaurs.

Certainly, humans can speed up the process of global warming and climate change, but just as certainly it took a massive number of natural disasters to disrupt our climate to the point of reaching the highest limits of the global warm up, which then triggered a new Ice Age.

So, what does all this mean to you?

First, it means the Earth has survived nearly thirty billion years without the help of mankind.

Second, it means whoever created the earth, Sun and cosmos [The Unknowable One] must have been one powerful entity to create such miracles.

Third, the Earth itself is a miraculous creation since it can continually regenerate over billions of years.

Fourth, it not only regenerates but it also heals and repairs itself from even catastrophic natural disasters, like meteor strikes or super-volcano eruptions that contaminate our atmosphere while blocking the life-giving rays of the Sun.

Fifth and finally, the Creator, God, Lord or whatever you choose to call God, seems to take a special interest in what happens here on Earth because the Earth, Sun and humans are all creations of the Creator and survived the catastrophic events in our known and unknown history.

The multitude of miracles it took for The Unknowable One to create humans, earth, the cosmos, and everything in it, reflect the ultimate mystical, magical, and spiritual power of a deity beyond our knowing.  

There is no other valid explanation for how things were created and exist.

Melchizedek says humans should worry a little less about the future of the Earth, and a lot more about our continued existence in that future.

We are not the Masters of Creation, we are a creation of the Creator just like everything else in our world and cosmos.  It only makes sense to say all of creation share the responsibility to work in harmony, to protect our world from the contamination of evil and fear, and preserve all that was created in the world we were given.

You do not need a miracle to awaken you to the Divine Creator, just look in the mirror, then look at the landscape outside the window, the Earth you inherited and inhabit.  The reality you see is a miraculous creation.  You are living and experiencing the miracle of creation.

If only we took time to catch our collective breath, to meditate, to find that elusive peace, block out the physical world from your senses, and open yourself to the unlimited potential of the Kingdom of Heaven, located just beyond the physical world in the spiritual dimensions beyond.

You would probably be in awe if you peeked into a dimension beyond time and space, a world of imagination beyond our comprehension.  Perhaps you might begin to understand the power and love of our Creator.

What we have available to us are the miraculous gifts God gave us.  What we do with those gifts is our acknowledgement of the Creator and enlightenment of basking in the Creator’s love.

Have you searched for your God-given purpose or mission in life?  Identified the special gifts and attributes God gave you?  Are you using those gifts for the benefit of all God’s creations?

Are you really prepared for the coming day when the lights go out, and from that void of darkness a new world must emerge?

There is hope for we are creations of the Creator.  Our mind, spirit and soul are capable of fantastic feats.  We must challenge the limits of our imaginations and work in harmony with the Creator to protect, honor, and nurture all aspects of God’s Creation.

Seek out and acknowledge the God who gave you your life, by using the gifts God gave you to help bring peace and harmony to our world.  Ask the Holy Spirit for enlightenment to find the path of Jesus, the Son of God, who is ready to help you find your way home.

A spiritual army of protectors and defenders led by Michael are poised in the spiritual world and stand ready to come to your aid, if you just ask.

We are all Creations of the Creator.

The Creator never gives up on his Creations.

That means you!

Do not give up on yourself!

From Palm Sunday, April 5 to Easter Sunday, April 11, we honor the five stages of human spiritual evolution. 

Birth

Transfiguration (state of Grace)

Death

Resurrection

and Ascension

of Jesus as he lived among us and showed us the path of redemption and eternal salvation.  You should pay attention to the coming Holy Week and Easter activities if you want to seek enlightenment in your life.

The Melchizedek Chronicles - 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 Melchizedek Chronicles - 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.

Summary

.