Saint Stephen

When you first saw this picture? You might be wondering that what I'm going to share today. Perhaps, you might try to figure it out by observing the picture below and find out the answer.

Yes. He is Saint Stephen. (St.Stephen), the first martyr of the church.

Today, just before I started to pray. Out of sudden, I'm curious about Saint's feast day that is going to celebrate at mass today. So, I just click on the Catholic application that I have downloaded on my phone to find out. Saint of the day is St. Stephen. To be frank, I don't really know much about him. After reading his life stories, it really make me feel impress about  the way that he live for his faith.

The church has celebrated the feast day of St.Stephen on the 26th of December,right after the day of Christmas. His name Stephen means 'Crown' , and he was the first disciple of Jesus to receive the martyr's crown. A martyr is someone who is killed or made to suffer greatly because of their religious beliefs.

St.Stephen was a deacon in the early Christian Church.  The apostles had found that they needed helpers to look after the care of the widows and the poor.  So they ordained seven deacons, and Stephen is the most famous of these.

God worked many miracles through St Stephen and he spoke with such wisdom and grace that many of his hearers became followers of Jesus.  The enemies of the Church of Jesus were furious to see how successful Stephen's preaching was.  At last, they laid a plot for him.  They could not answer his wise argument, so they got men to lie about him, saying that he had spoken sinfully against God.  

St. Stephen faced that great assembly of enemies without fear.  In fact, the Holy Bible says that his face looked like the face of an angel. The saint spoke about Jesus, showing that He is the Saviour, God had promised to send.  He scolded his enemies for not having believed in Jesus.  At that, they rose up in great anger and shouted at him.  But St.Stephen looked up to Heaven and said that he saw the heavens opening and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

His hearers plugged their ears and refused to listen to another word.  They dragged St .Stephen outside the city of Jerusalem and stoned him to death.  The saint prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"  Then he fell to his knees and begged God not to punish his enemies for killing him.

After reading his story,I'm touched by his story. He teaches us to forgive our enemies, be strong in our faith and the truth of life. 

Pope Benedict XVI said that He is the role model of new Evangelization. He said: we are called to fix on our gaze on the Son of God, and like St.Stephen, deacon of the first martyr of the church, ''open up our lives to the light that directs us '' on the life's path. (Source: www.news.va)

From now on, St.Stephen will be one of my patron saint in life.