We have scarcely concluded our celebration of the birth of Christ when today we are asked to look beyond the time of His own death and resurrection to the day of the death of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr. St Stephen gave witness to his faith by willingly accepting death.

This feast of the martyrdom of St Stephen helps to put the meaning of Christmas into perspective for us. We need not lay aside all the beautiful images of Mary and Joseph bending over their God who chose to assume the helplessness of a human infant. And yet we must recognize that in becoming human like us in all things but sin, Jesus made Himself vulnerable as was St Stephen. He opened himself to the possibility of suffering and death. From the time of His conception and birth, Jesus was destined to win the salvation of the world by means of His death on the cross. In a real sense Jesus was born to die. From death He was born to the fullness of life in the resurrection.

The death and resurrection of Jesus are the great central events of His entire life. Everything about Him led up to that momentous act of sacrifice.

It is quite right for us to contemplate the sweetness of the scene at Bethlehem, but today's feast calls us to the realization that Jesus Himself was born to be a martyr, that is, a witness to God the Father's immense love for us. The sign of that love is His sacrifice, a sacrifice which was a reality only because He had first become human like us in all things but sin.