St Stephen –archdeacon

The Martyrdom of St. Stephen the Archdeacon

This day marks the martyrdom of St. Stephen, the Archdeacon and the first martyr (protomartyr). St. Luke testified about him in the Acts of the Apostles saying, “Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:8). The Jews envied him and seized him and brought him to the Council. They also set up false witnesses who said, “This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law; for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us” (Acts 6:12-13). And all who sat in the Council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel (Acts 6:13).

Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?” St. Stephen answered with convincing words and told them the history from Abraham to Moses. The coming out of Abraham from Haran, the birth and the circumcision of Isaac, Jacob and his sons and their selling of Joseph, and how Joseph revealed himself to his brothers. St. Stephen continued to narrate to them all the events until the building of the temple. He concluded by saying, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of Whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers; who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it” (Acts 7:51-53).

When they heard these things they were cut to their hearts, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran toward him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him.

They stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus receive my Spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he said this, he fell asleep (Acts 7:51-60). Devout men carried St. Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him.

May his prayers be with us. Amen.

(Coptic Synaxarion)

O Antiphons

Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

The outline for the entire hymn dates back to a thousand years ago. A week before Christmas, Monks would chant poetic verses to commemorate the arrival of Jesus. In the 1800s John Neal took those chants, turned them into a song and called it “Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel.” The significance of the Gregorian chants are their names for Jesus: wisdom, Adonai (Hebrew name for God), root of Jesse, key of David, dayspring, King of the Gentiles, and Emmanuel.

If you take the first letter of these words in Latin, and read them backward, they spell “ero cras,” a Latin phrase meaning, “I will be present tomorrow.”

That’s the point of Christmas. Christmas is a promise that God will be present tomorrow. Belief that God will be present in all of our tomorrows makes today more bearable. We worry about tomorrow. We fret over the unknown. What if you had a choice: you could either know all of your tomorrows or you could have God with you in all of your tomorrows. You couldn’t handle knowing all your tomorrows at once. The weight of the suffering and the anticipation of the joy would overwhelm you. Having God with you through all of them–that enables you to enjoy today and anticipate tomorrow.

For today, thank God that He is the God of tomorrow.

Jesus has a genealogy

Who are you? Where do you come from? Who are your parents? Where did they come from, and who are they related to by blood? These questions are frequently  asked and explored by us. We want to know more than the superficial facts of a person’s life.

Today in the Byzantine Church we hear the gospel addressing Jesus’ family tree, a sequence of who makes up his lineage. Uniquely called, today is The Sunday Before Christmas: Matthew 1:1-25. While it may seem tedious and painful to hear since many can’t pronounce the names, but what the pericope demonstrates is that God uses the unlikely to bring into human history His work of salvation. God is not elitist; the Eternal Word of God has a “rough trade” family history.

The genealogy of Matthew’s gospel is a journey in human history –the good, the bad, the rough around the edges. It’s a journey by which we are meant to be informed, one person at a time, but not dismissed. The proclamation of Jesus’ genealogy in the wisdom of the Church shows us that the carriers of the Messianic promise are imperfect according to the world’s standards. If you idealize Jesus, a trap for certain, then you will need to think more deeply about what constitutes the line of communion with the Divine Majesty. We are reminded of this in the epistle reading from Hebrews which has a great line to ponder: God has a better plan for us. What prevails is that all people have a place in the plan of God, all of a role to play in the plan of salvation. The crooked line of our lives and witness matter –and this good news. Jesus demonstrates this fact.

Gaudete Sunday Vespers

The Dominican nuns of Our Lady of Grace Monastery welcomed the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, the Order of Malta – Connecticut North East Area and the Fraternity of St. Dominic for Solemn Vespers for Gaudete Sunday.

Chaplains to the two Orders, Fr Peter J. Langevin and Fr Joe MacNeill sat in choir.

Fr Brian Mulchay, OP, presided and preached.

Order of Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem CT meet for Vespers

Before Gaudete Sunday Vespers and Rosary with the Dominican nuns of Our Lady of Grace Monastery (North Guilford, CT), some members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem met with Brandy, the horse, to see if we wanted to resume our privilege of riding into Church on horseback.

St John of the Cross, feast

“Blessed be the Lady who intends me to quit this life this Saturday. I know that God, our Lord, is about to do me the mercy and favor of allowing me to recite Matins in Heaven.”

“The little white dove
Has returned to the ark with the bough;
And now the turtle-dove
Its desired mate
On the green banks has found.”

St. John of the Cross was born in 1542 in Fontiveros, Spain. The son of a poor but noble family, he was raised in an orphanage. Recognized for his joyful spirit, he was sent to a Jesuit College. He entered the Carmelite Order, studied theology at Salamanca, and was ordained a priest. He supported St. Teresa of Avila’s reforms of the Order. Opponents to the reforms imprisoned him in deplorable conditions. He died in 1591 and was canonized in 1726. In recognition of his mystical writings; The Dark Night of the Soul, Ascent of Mount Carmel, Spiritual Canticle, and Living Flame of Love, he was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1926.

St John of the Cross pray for us

The Massabki Brothers

Today, the Pope canonized the Massabki Brothers, martyrs. They are called martyrs of faith and unity.

The Massabki Brothers are Maronites: Blessed Emanuele Ruiz and 7 Companions, of the Order of Friars Minor, and Francesco, Abdel Mooti, and Raffaele Massabki, Lay Faithful, killed in hatred of the Faith in Damascus, Syria between July 9 and 10, 1860. The brothers and companions refused to renounce their Christian faith and convert to Islam. The 11 were brutally killed, some beheaded with sabers and axes, others stabbed or clubbed to death.

July 10 is the liturgical memorial for the Massabki Brothers on the Maronite calendar and that of the Custody of the Holy Land.

Saint Massabki Brothers and Companions, pray for us.