Imagine the pre-Christmas rush. You have a head full of worries, about what else to do, buy, arrange, and when shopping, you find that you don’t have a wallet. Tears, shame when returning the purchase, the journey home. What all goes through a person’s mind? And at the door a young man, maybe 18, 20 years old.
“You are” – and says your name. “I brought you a wallet. Surely losing it now before the holidays would spoil your joy.” You take your wallet, and open it, nothing is missing, not even a crown. It contains your business card. Tears in my eyes again. A young man laughs. It can be seen that he is very happy that someone is happy, even though he has tears in his eyes. You want to say thank you and – he is already hurrying away. You call for him to come back, you want to reward yourself, and he just waves at you with a smile and calls: “Happy and blessed holidays!”
When hearing about this event, someone remarked: “That is a true witness of love.”
Today’s saint – St. Štefan rightfully has first place among the witnesses. We can say that he is a challenge, a reminder to each of us. The word “witness” does not yet express a positive value. We know about witnesses with destructive charges. A witness can also be spoken of in connection with a quantity. Martyrs, confessors, and witnesses certainly have their place in heaven… To be a witness according to the example of St. Stefan cannot be reached quickly. It requires time, effort, renunciation, self-control, perhaps even standing up, and not once, but seven times, also knowing and being able to forgive, to say sorry, to rise above the insult, to be able not to remind the forgiven, also to want to learn, and so on. To be a witness according to the example of St. Štefana is demanding, but dear to God.
Lord Jesus reminds the apostles: “But he who endures to the end will be saved” (Mt 10:22).
What to endure? Jesus points to the national status of the witnesses of his love. For the name of Jesus, it is necessary to “protect yourself from people”. Do not mindlessly avoid them. Protecting yourself from people means not putting your soul in danger. The sin and malice of men cannot bear the truth. It is precisely for her that they reach not only for the honor of those who live according to Christ’s words but also for their bodies. Jesus predicts to his faithful that they will be judged for the truth, they will be scourged, interrogated… But even then they will not be alone. The Holy Spirit will be with them. He instills in them what to say, how to act, how to act, and how to behave. God will bear witness to true love and truth through his enemies even in front of his enemies. In the Old Testament, the prophet resists accepting the mission. When he unites with God, he will not only fulfill his mission and be a reward for him, but he will help many to persevere in faithfulness to God, as he asks.
In the Acts of the Apostles, St. is an example of faithfulness. John the Baptist, apostles, and St. Stefan. God speaks and acts through witnesses. They are a tool used by God to instruct, admonish and rebuke. God does not abandon his witnesses and is with them even when they die for Christ. They do not take suffering as a punishment, they do not approach it as outcasts, but as chosen ones. Death becomes a reward for the witness.
We see it today at St. to Stefan. Not Stefan, but God acts through Stefan, whom he filled with his graces, and powandthat he performed miracles and signs that did not escape the attention of people. God also leaves freedom to the wise, which means that wisdom is not yet a guarantee of the authenticity of testimony. A wise man does not yet have to be a true witness. Stephen must resist the wisdom of some of the synagogues of the Libertines, the thereness, the Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, who quarreled with Stephen. Stephen was shown the love of the Spirit who spoke through him so that all who came to oppose him were able to gnash their teeth and rage against him. God’s word is like a double-edged sword: it is salt in the wound, it is light that the lover of darkness does not accept, it is the leaven that does not accept you and GH, it is a fish that avoids the net… The truth remains the truth even when someone closes their ears t it when they want to silence her by stoning her. It happens that they often learn the truth too late and first someone has to die for it. In the Old Testament, they stoned and killed the prophets. Were the prophets true? God is still the same. The apostles, their disciples, and all until today who died for the Truth, that is, for Christ, his teachings, did not die, they live, and the promise is fulfilled on them that: “he who endures to the end will be saved” (Mt 10,22 ). The Church is alive today. The blood of martyrs, the work of believers, the testimony of virgins are the seed of new youth and vitality of the Church. he will be saved” (Mt 10:22). The Church is alive today. The blood of martyrs, the work of believers, the testimony of virgins are the seed of new youth and vitality of the Church. he will be saved” (Mt 10:22). The Church is alive today. The blood of martyrs, the work of believers, and the testimony of virgins are the seed of new youth and vitality of the Church.
Even today, the Church needs martyrs, believers, and witnesses. Why? Aren’t there many around us who want to silence the Truth – God, not only with their mouths but also with their false learning, usurped power, unhealthy selfishness,and pride? Various “Isms” of recent times is proof of this, and today other “Isms” hate God and everything related to God is their enemy. They are afraid of themselves. Stupidity breeds stupidity. They do not want to learn that the truth is only one and unchangeable – “Veritas una est et mirabilis.”
None of us can say that we do not need the testimony of the faith of others. But we too must bear witness to others. We need each other not only for a healthy natural life on earth, but we need each other for a life of faith. After all, we live under the pressure of the world, the flesh and the devil, and even today the words of the apostle St. Peter, that we should be vigilant, because the devil, like a prowling lion, goes around and cuts down whom he would devour. We know that sin and the devil are a reality even today. Often at the most sacred moment, the devil destroys peace, joy, and love… He cannot be satisfied when he sees someone else win. The witness must adopt the true values. It is not enough just to have the name Christian, or to declare that one is a Christian, for example in politics, when one is full of hatred, anger, unable to forgive, and unable to love. It is not enough to give a percentage of the income of one’s business to the church, when the property was acquired dishonestly, even if, supposedly, by legal privatization, when he forces people not to keep Sundays holy when he is a usurer when he is silent in the face of extortion when he does not respect his own body, does not protect his health… Why do we need such witnesses who cause the disintegration of families, when they sow tares when they take advantage of poverty and misfortune of people to gain a new follower. ?et’s see Jehovah’s Witnesses. Even the name is not a guarantee of authenticity.
A witness loves the truth, lives in the truth, guards against sin, has confidence and hope, and strives for the growth of love. A true witness of God will not give preference to anyone or anything before God, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier. A witness protects the honor of God, his neighbor and himself. He will give to God what is God’s and to Caesar what is Caesar’s. He feels the commandment of love as a benefit, and not as a burden. Honors and values old age, protects children from scandal. He respects his own life and the life of every person, both before birth and in sickness and old age. Therefore, he does not agree with abortion and voluntary death in old age and illness. The witness keeps his body not only in natural purity, but also in moral purity. Starting with his mind, eyes, mouth, gestures and touches, he does not offend his own purity or that of others. He respects the marital bed and the status of persons consecrated to God, celibacy, celibacy. The witness protects not only his own property, but also the company’s property, as well as his brother’s property. He does not reach out and appropriate what does not belong to him. Returns the borrowed item. He does not accept what does not belong to him, he gives the deserved reward and pays the wages that are due to him. A witness of God does not seek the good name and honor of his neighbor, does not slander or slander. He will not say evil, untruth about his neighbor, he will not offend. He knows how to apologize, ask for forgiveness when he has committed an insult or dishonest act. The witness has the right attitude towards public life. He does not remain silent when the honor of a woman or a man is lowered by advertising, in an inappropriate, incorrect, immoral and unethical way. He asks for correction from those who spread the baseness of human impulses. He does not buy, does not look at and does not own what God has determined to fulfill the commandment: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Returns the borrowed item. He does not accept what does not belong to him, he gives the deserved reward and pays the wages that are due to him. A witness of God does not seek the good name and honor of his neighbor, does not slander or slander. He will not say evil, untruth about his neighbor, he will not offend. He knows how to apologize, ask for forgiveness when he has committed an insult or dishonest act. The witness has the right attitude towards public life. He does not remain silent when the honor of a woman or a man is lowered by advertising, in an inappropriate, incorrect, immoral and unethical way. He asks for correction from those who spread the baseness of human impulses. He does not buy, does not look at and does not own what God has determined to fulfill the commandment: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Returns the borrowed item. He does not accept what does not belong to him, he gives the deserved reward and pays the wages that are due to him. A witness of God does not seek the good name and honor of his neighbor, does not slander or slander. He will not say evil, untruth about his neighbor, he will not offend. He knows how to apologize, ask for forgiveness when he has committed an insult or dishonest act. The witness has the right attitude towards public life. He does not remain silent when the honor of a woman or a man is lowered by advertising, in an inappropriate, incorrect, immoral and unethical way. He asks for correction from those who spread the baseness of human impulses. He does not buy, does not look at and does not own what God has determined to fulfill the commandment: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. to ask for forgiveness when he has committed an insult, a dishonest act. The witness has the right attitude towards public life. He does not remain silent when the honor of a woman or a man is lowered by advertising, in an inappropriate, incorrect, immoral and unethical way. He asks for correction from those who spread the baseness of human impulses. He does not buy, does not look at and does not own what God has determined to fulfill the commandment: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. to ask for forgiveness when he has committed an insult, a dishonest act. The witness has the right attitude towards public life. He does not remain silent when the honor of a woman or a man is lowered by advertising, in an inappropriate, incorrect, immoral and unethical way. He asks for correction from those who spread the baseness of human impulses. He does not buy, does not look at and does not own what God has determined to fulfill the commandment: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
If ever we needed witnesses, it’s today. Today, the world needs educated witnesses, but also holy witnesses. The world needed witnesses yesterday and it needs us as witnesses today. It is right that we want to raise our children as witnesses for future generations. Our example and model, our character, and our responsible approach to the entrusted values are a memento for us. If this mission of witness is not a burden for us, but a joyful duty, then we believe in the words that: “God is a just Judge who rewards the good and punishes the bad” and we believe that: “the human soul is immortal and the grace of God is for salvation necessary.” God gives us many new graces during these holidays.
Janka was eighteen years old at the beginning of December. She is looking forward to the gift, long promised by her father, because her mother died when she was born. He knows that the gift will not be anything from cosmetics, gold or silver or electronics or textiles. Janka knows that it is a tape.
“What, ordinary tape?!” someone would ask. Yes. Janka will hear her mother’s voice for the first time, albeit only from a recording. Janka only heard good things about her mother from her father, grandparents, and acquaintances. The old woman told her as a little girl about how her mother looked, while she was looking at the album, the old woman’s experiences when her mother was still a little girl, and other things. After Christmas dinner, Janke’s father handed her a plain tape to put in the tape recorder. Her hands shook. She asked her father to do it. Janka looked at the Christmas tree and after a while, a quiet voice was heard, from which one could feel great joy, the zest for life, although the first words revealed that the woman was suffering a lot.
She spoke slowly: “Janka, my daughter! Today you are eighteen years old. You are an adult. Congratulations. You are a woman. My father and I agreed that if you can’t remember my voice, I will at least be able to address you this day. When the doctors discovered my illness, they told me to make a decision: do I want my death and my life? I didn’t hesitate for a moment. After prayer and conversation with God, I said: I want my child to live. I still didn’t know if it was going to be a boy or a girl. When you came into the world, you were small. You didn’t cry. The doctor showed you to me. You had beautiful black hair.’
The woman’s voice trailed off. After a while, he continued even more quietly and slowly. The eighteen-year-old girl’s face was pale as she listened. Janka knew from her father that her mother gave priority to her life over hers, although several doctors and people from the neighborhood could not understand this. Janka continued to listen. The last words were: “Janka, I believe in God that you will be happy because I will bless you from heaven.” I look forward to seeing you all in heaven one day. Your mother blesses you.”
Woman, wife, mother. A witness? Yes, witness! So relevant today… We realize that the holiday of St. Štefana, it’s time for a memento for each of us.
The young man did not wait for thanks when he handed over the lost money. His words: Happy and blessed holidays were not a phrase like many Christmas greetings.
Let’s pray: St. Stephen, the witness of the faith of the Risen One, pray for us to faithfully fulfill our mission as witnesses – Catholic Christians at the turn of the millennium.
