Witness
Martyr, by Obsidian Planet Lections: The Fifth Sunday of Easter , AD 2026 A Homily: Lord, we pray for the preacher, for you know his sins are great. Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia! Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. We don’t talk enough about the martyrdom of Stephen. He’s never been a particularly popular saint; you don’t see him in a lot of stained-glass windows. His feast day, December 26th, gets subsumed under the greater Christmas season. And even then he’s only mentioned in a single hymn: “Good King Wenceslas looked out / on the feast of Stephen.” And yet the death of Stephen continues the Crucifixion. In the wake of Jesus’ Resurrection, and the outpouring of His Spirit at Pentecost, the Apostles acted as men transformed: fearless, joyful, blithe and bold, gladly suffering punishment for proclaiming the Gospel of Christ. And their witness bore great fruit. Thousands welcomed Bap...
