26 December 2026 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”” Acts 7:59–60
The day after Christmas the Church remembers St Stephen, the first martyr. It seems abrupt: from the crib to stones. But the Fathers saw the connection: yesterday Christ was born on earth so that today Stephen might be born into heaven. The Child came to give his life, and those who follow him share his self-giving.
Stephen, “full of grace and power”, sees “the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” As he dies he prays like Jesus on the Cross: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit… Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Among those approving his death is a young man named Saul, the future Paul. Forgiveness sown in blood bears fruit.
Theme: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
St Stephen, the first martyr, the day after Christmas.
“But they conspired against him, and by command of the king they stoned him to death in the court of the house of the LORD.” 2 Chronicles 24:21
“But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” Acts 7:55
Apply: Pray for persecuted Christians.
“Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.” Joel 2:28
“For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” Matthew 10:20
Apply: Ask the Spirit for courage to witness.
“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter.” Isaiah 53:7
“While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”” Acts 7:59–60
Apply: Forgive someone today.
The crib leads to the Cross and to heaven.
Let us forgive and witness like Stephen.
Take-home resolution: Pray each day of the octave for one person who hurt you.
Dear friends, yesterday we celebrated the birth of Christ; today we celebrate the death of St Stephen, the first martyr. It seems strange to move from the crib to the stones so quickly. But the Church wants us to understand: the Child born in Bethlehem calls for a faith that is ready to give everything.
Stephen was full of grace and power, doing great wonders and signs among the people (Acts 6:8). His enemies could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. So they stoned him.
As he was dying, Stephen saw the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:56). Then he prayed two prayers that echo Jesus on the Cross: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit; and, Lord, do not hold this sin against them (Acts 7:59–60).
In the Gospel Jesus warns: I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. You will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved (Matthew 10:16, 22).
Stephen's greatest miracle was not his signs; it was his forgiveness. And a young man named Saul, guarding the coats of those who stoned him, would later become St Paul. Stephen's forgiveness bore fruit.
Christians are persecuted in many places today, including parts of India. Let us pray for them. And let us ask for Stephen's spirit in our ordinary lives: to forgive those who hurt us, even while the hurt is still fresh. That is the true gift of Christmas. Amen.
Children, St Stephen loved Jesus so much that he forgave the people who hurt him. Can you forgive someone today?
Lord Jesus, you were born so that we might be born into heaven. Give us St Stephen's courage and his forgiving heart, and strengthen all who suffer for your name. Amen.
The day after Christmas the Church moves from the crib to the stones. Acts tells how Stephen died, and the Gospel gives the warning Jesus had already spoken to his disciples: they will be handed over, and the Spirit of the Father will speak through them. Stephen is the first in whom that word comes true. The note for this day also lists the weekday readings, 1 John 2:26–29 and John 1:19–29, which are not studied here.
Setting.
Stephen is one of the seven chosen to serve the Greek-speaking widows of the Jerusalem Church, “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit” (6:5). He does more than wait on tables. He argues in a synagogue of Greek-speaking Jews and is brought before the council on a charge of speaking against the Temple and the law (6:11–14). His long speech (7:2–53) retells the story of Israel and ends with a hard rebuke. The reading passes over the speech and goes straight to its end.
Luke’s account reads more like a rush of fury than an orderly sentence. Stoning, outside the city, was the penalty the law set for blasphemy (Leviticus 24:14).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
““Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”” (7:56)
Elsewhere the risen Lord is said to “sit” at God’s right hand (Luke 22:69). Here he stands. Many have seen in this the witness who rises to speak for his servant, or the Lord who rises to welcome him. Apart from Jesus himself, hardly anyone in the New Testament uses the title Son of Man.
“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” (7:59)
Jesus prayed on the Cross, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). Stephen prays the same prayer to Jesus. It is one of the earliest signs of Christian prayer directed to Christ as Lord.
“Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” (7:60)
This is the mirror of “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34). Luke wants us to see that the disciple dies like the Master. The young man holding the coats will one day write the letters we read at the Holy Qurbana.
How the Church reads it.
St Fulgentius of Ruspe joins the two feasts: yesterday we celebrated the birth in time of our eternal King; today we celebrate the triumphant suffering of his soldier. The love that brought Christ down from heaven to earth raised Stephen from earth to heaven (Sermon 3, in substance). A saying long attributed to St Augustine holds that if Stephen had not prayed, the Church would not have had Paul. The Catechism calls martyrdom the supreme witness to the truth of the faith (CCC 2473), and it points to Stephen’s prayer as a model of intercession even for those who do us harm (CCC 2635).
Setting.
This belongs to the second of the five great discourses in Matthew: Jesus sends out the Twelve (10:1–42). The first part is about their mission in the towns of Israel. From v. 16 his eye reaches further, to what will happen to his messengers among the Gentiles as well. Matthew’s first readers already knew such things from experience.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves;” (10:16)
“I am sending”: the danger is not an accident of the mission. He sends them knowingly, and he goes on being their Shepherd.
“for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (10:20)
Luke notes that Stephen’s opponents “could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke” (Acts 6:10). This is the first place in the discourse where God is called “your Father”, and it comes at the worst moment.
“But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (10:22)
The “end” may be the end of a life or the end of the age. The promise holds for both.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism defines fortitude as the virtue that lets us conquer fear, even fear of death, and face trials and persecutions, and it may lead a person even to give up his life for a just cause (CCC 1808). Witnesses of this kind are many in our own century too. The Church holds up the “acts of the martyrs” as an archive of truth written in letters of blood (CCC 2474).
Do these readings blame the Jewish people?
No. Stephen himself was a Jew, and so were all the first Christians, Jesus and the apostles. Those who killed him were some angry men of one city at one time. Luke also shows many Jews believing (Acts 6:7), and Matthew’s “their synagogues” reflects a painful quarrel inside one family. The Church firmly rejects any blaming of the Jewish people as a whole (Nostra Aetate 4; CCC 597–598).
In the season of Nativity the Syro-Malabar Church places a martyr next to the crib. We are the Church of an Apostle whom our tradition remembers as a martyr in India, St Thomas, and we know that the faith of the Child costs something. Stephen teaches the deepest lesson of that witness: to die without hatred.