Originally published at National Catholic Register
Catholics in the United States generally don’t go to church on Dec. 26, so they might be surprised that — a day after the birth of Jesus Christ — the Church is marking the feast of its first martyr, the deacon Stephen. Catholics in Europe — where Christmas is often a two-day affair — are perhaps more familiar with the red vestments on the “second day of Christmas” or, as another carol puts it, “on the feast of Stephen.”
But we should not be surprised at the coincidence. Jesus very clearly associates his life with his Passion (and death and resurrection). At the climax moment in the Gospels, when St. Peter declares in Caesarea Philippi, “You are the Christ!” Jesus immediately follows up with predictions of his suffering. And when Peter attempts to rebuke him — in one sense, a very human gesture — he’s rebuked right back in no uncertain terms: “You are thinking not of the things of God but of man” (Matthew 16:23). And since “a servant is not greater than his master” (Matthew 10:24), why would we be surprised at the proximity of martyrdom to Jesus’ Nativity. Jesus has always been a “sign of contradiction” and
