Tuesday December 26th: Are you ready for this?

“You will be universally hated on account of my name, but anyone who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

Matt 10: 17-22

Stone after stone brought his demise but he stood his ground unflinchingly, clinging only to the truth he had proclaimed as recorded in Acts 7. Like Jesus, he even prayed for the forgiveness of his persecutors! St Stephen, the first martyr, whose feast we celebrate today is a splendid example for us when we are tempted to waver, to water down, to compromise what we know deep down to be true, but which often comes with a cost in our cancel culture: rejection, annihilation, persecution, our life even. And that is what in today’s Gospel Jesus said can be the expected fate of those who profess discipleship.

We pray for those fighting against corruption and nepotism in the workplace and for our children who face the onslaught of the erosion of values in day-to-day life. We think of those in the church who rally in the frontlines against injustice, immorality and relativism. We thank God for them.

Lord, even if ‘stick and stones break their bones’, we pray that the faith of our modern-day martyrs may never waver. Amen.