For us Catholics, Christmas is a glorious season, not just a day. As the secular world throws out the Christmas trees on December 26 and Christmas music goes off the air at 12 midnight, we believers are just beginning to celebrate the Octave of Christmas and the days beyond.
The liturgical feasts between Christmas and New Year’s Day are some of my favorites.
On December 26, we celebrate the feast of St. Stephen, one of the first deacons ordained in the Church for service to the poor and sick.
His noble and courageous testimony to the truth and primacy of Jesus Christ, recorded in the Acts of the Apostles in Chapters 6 and 7, angered his listeners so much that they stoned him to death for blasphemy. He is the first Christian martyr.
Three aspects of this day stand out for me. Stephen saw the heavens open and had a glimpse of the Lord Jesus in His glory, as he gave testimony.
Saul, who later became St. Paul, concurred in the killing, as a seemingly righteous act.
On this day, King Wenceslaus went out to help a poor man in the middle of a blizzard.
December 27 is the feast of St. John the Evangelist, the beloved disciple who wrote the fourth Gospel and the Book of Revelation, enjoyed a close friendship with the Lord, was the only one of the Twelve who did not abandon Jesus in His Passion, and cared for the Blessed Virgin after Christ ascended to Heaven.
Although John did not suffer martyrdom, tradition says the Roman Emperor Domitian boiled him in oil for his witness to Christ, but he survived the ordeal.
John bears witness to the mystical, affective aspect of our faith.
Like St. John, we can pursue a deep spiritual friendship with the Lord, living in the mystery of the Trinity by virtue of our Baptism, going ever deeper into the limitless love of Christ.
More feast days
On December 28, the Church honors the Holy Innocents, the young children and babies whom Herod murdered in his obsessional hatred for the Baby Jesus.
In his confusion and arrogance, he perceived this newborn king as a threat to his earthly power.
As St. Quodvultdeus writes, “Why are you afraid, Herod, when you hear of the birth of a king?
“He does not come to drive you out but to conquer the devil. But because you do not understand this, you are disturbed and in a rage, and to destroy one child whom you seek, you show your cruelty in the death of so many children.”
We see in this sad narrative the fact that, from His very entrance into the world, the Lord encounters violent opposition.
The Holy Innocents died as martyrs for the Lord.
December 29 is the Optional Memorial of St. Thomas Becket, who served King Henry II of England as Lord Chancellor before becoming the Archbishop of Canterbury.
A close friend of the king, St. Thomas lost royal favor when he courageously stood up for the rights of the Church against the king’s usurpations of power.
At the king’s command, soldiers murdered St. Thomas in his cathedral on this day in 1170.
Similar to Thomas More, Becket died as a martyr for the primacy of conscience and religious freedom.
This year, the Feast of the Holy Family falls on December 30.
The Gospel is the Flight into Egypt, as Mary and Joseph take the Christ Child to safety, far from the murderous intent of King Herod.
The length of the journey, the unknown perils along the way, and the uncertainty of the future must have weighed heavily on the Holy Family at the very beginning of Jesus’ life.
Holy reminders
These four liturgical celebrations during the Octave of Christmas remind us that the forces of sin, evil, and death do not welcome the advent of Christ, that to embrace faith in the Lord will require suffering and even possibly martyrdom, that a serious Christian will soon encounter the Cross on the pilgrim way to the Father.
Even as we rejoice in the intimacy of the Christmas scene with Mary and Joseph kneeling in adoration before the Christ Child, the shepherds hovering in wonder, and the Magi opening their coffers, we know that the Word became Flesh in order to suffer and die for us.
This intrinsic connection between Christmas and Holy Week finds expression in Simeon’s prophecy to Mary, that Jesus will be rejected, serving as a sign of contradiction, and that a sword will pierce her mother’s heart.
This shadow of the Cross, lingering both over the manger scene and our celebration of Christmas, does not rob us of joy and gratitude.
Rather, it illuminates why the Lord came to earth.
We can think of the whole Christ event as a divine rescue mission, as the eternal Son of God takes on our human nature in order to break the ancient curse of sin and death, which had held the human race bound in darkness since the Original Sin in Genesis. Jesus is Lord!
His power relativizes and purifies all earthly powers, as He seeks to bring all of humanity into right relationship with the Father.
This astounding good news is the essence of the Gospel!
Blessings on the new Year of Our Lord 2023!