On the Feast of Stephen

Today on the First Day of Christmas, Christians remember the first martyr. The birth of the new man is the perfect time to remember the glorification, the full birth, of Stephen. The Feast of Christmas looks forward to the time when death will be swallowed up in continuous birth!

A carol often sung on the feast of Stephen is about “good King” Wenceslas, actually a duke, who governed as a good man and Christian should . If the carol is a legend, it is the kind of legend that people could believe of a just ruler murdered by hatred and envy. The birthday of the King of Kings is a good time to recall a ruler that is a model for Christian governance and  the feast of the first martyr an even  better time to recollect this man who was killed for the Faith.

Just now we need Christians who will take up the mantle of Wenceslas and fight for justice. God help us  if we have come to a time when saintly men in office must face the fate of Stephen. What can we learn from the good Wenceslas?

The carol says:

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even
Brightly shone the moon that night
Though the frost was cruel
When a poor man came in sight
Gath’ring winter fuel

“Hither, page, and stand by me
If thou know’st it, telling
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence
Underneath the mountain
Right against the forest fence
By Saint Agnes’ fountain.”

“Bring me flesh and bring me wine
Bring me pine logs hither
Thou and I will see him dine
When we bear him thither.”
Page and monarch forth they went
Forth they went together
Through the rude wind’s wild lament
And the bitter weather

“Sire, the night is darker now
And the wind blows stronger
Fails my heart, I know not how,
I can go no longer.”
“Mark my footsteps, my good page
Tread thou in them boldly
Thou shalt find the winter’s rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly.”

In his master’s steps he trod
Where the snow lay dinted
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed
Therefore, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
You who will now bless the poor
Shall Yourselves find blessings.

No Christian ruler should need to be told that his job is in part to bless the poor. Perhaps more Christian leaders than we would hope need to remember that we should not honor the rich more than the poor, the big donor more than the small. We have James and Jesus condemning favoritism, after all!

Just today, however, we should recall that the Good King is bringing the man a feast, a dinner. We often think charity should help a man get the “basics” and it certainly should do that, but Christian charity has always gone further. We provide, as the charitable men say to Scrooge, “Christmas cheer.” We do not want the poor to merely eat at Christmas, but feast. Christians know God rejoices in abundance and our charity must not be stingy.

When we make sure children have gifts at Christmas are we giving them from our best? Are we giving gifts we would wish to receive? If not, we are giving like the government and not like Christians. A stingy meal is not Christian, does not imitate Christ or Christ’s saints.

The good King is not merely going to give the poor man and his steward a feast, he is going to eat the meal with them. This is in imitation of Jesus who does not merely give us our daily bread, but comes and eats the meal with us. Following his royal master, good King Wenceslas feasts with his servants. He gives food he wishes to eat, because he is eating the food with them!

So may our charity be this Christmas. May we give of our best and may we enjoy the feast in equal fellowship with those we serve.