January 30
Daily Gleanings of the Saintly LifeS. Stephen's Day
And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. Acts 6:15.
HE Who humbled Himself for our sakes to become man, humbles Himself still to behold man, to dwell in man, to be honoured in man. And so the Church has, in honour of His coming in great humility, gathered around it three festivals of those whom He sanctified, instances of His mercy, specimens of that noble army which as time goes on He is enrolling, who with His holy Angels serve Him here, and who with all the heavenly hosts shall praise Him for ever; the blessed Saint of to-day, the first-fruits of that noble army, an actual and willing Martyr. In S. Stephen every word and action breathes a Divine might and holy awe, bearing down before him the opposition of man's rebellion. It is well to reflect on such a subject as this, in order to humble ourselves. What are our petty sufferings, which we make so much of, to the Martyrs' pains and sorrows, who lost their friends and then their own lives for Christ's sake? By contemplating the lowest of His true servants, and seeing how far any one of them surpasses ourselves, we learn to shrink before His ineffable purity, Who is infinitely holier than the holiest of His creatures, and to confess ourselves with a sincere mind to be unworthy of the least of all His mercies. Thus His Martyrs lead us to Himself, the Chief of Martyrs and the King of Saints.
Great is the Lord in all the earth, Great are His works in heaven above, And in the earth below. He is the King of kings and Lord of all, Before all worlds begotten of the Father.