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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Cardinal Vincent Nichols

On the Feast of Stephen

Good Morning, It’s Boxing Day and that name comes from the custom of opening the Christmas boxes when the heavy work was done. On this day there was time to pause and appreciate more clearly the goodness of gifts and the small wonders of life, even in the most pressing circumstances.

Today is the Feast of Stephen, generously observed so the carol tells us by Good King Wenceslas . St Stephen was the first person to die a martyr’s death for his faithfulness to Jesus. As he died he made two remarkable statements.

First he said, ‘I can see the heavens opened!’ That was the great gift he received, his Boxing Day moment. For at that point Stephen knew for sure that death is not a trapdoor that we have to enter and through which we plunge into oblivion. No! What was shown to him was that death is but a step towards a longed-for fulfilment. The heavens were opened and were waiting for him. And that’sa gift worth having!

Then Stephen said: ‘Father, forgive them’. Oh, another great gift!

The capacity to forgive comes with seeing that this life is not the whole story, that there is something more to come. In the perspective of eternity the trials of this life acquire a new quality, rather as a bare tree, when seen against the bright blue of a winter’s sky, takes on a beauty that is new and unexpected. What seemed stark and dead is redeemed. It fills us with unexpected wonder.

May the coming of Jesus enrich this Boxing Day. May we receive in abundance his gifts of lasting hope and forgiveness.

Amen.

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