The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Submitted by Fr. Denis Bourbonnais, OMI, Parish Priest, St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church Feast of St. Stephen, Sermon by St. Fulgentius, Bishop of Ruspe, North Africa (468-533). Tomorrow we celebrate the birth of Jesus our King. Friday we celebrate the triumphant suffering of his soldier, Stephen. Tomorrow our King, clothed in his robe of flesh, left his place in the Virgin's womb and graciously visited the world. Friday his soldier, Stephen, leaves the tabernacle of his body and goes triumphantly to heaven. Love that brought Christ from heaven to earth raised Stephen from earth to heaven; shown first in the King, it later shone forth in his soldier. Love was Stephen's weapon by which he gained every battle, and so won the crown signified by his name. His love of God kept him from yielding to the ferocious mob; his love for his neighbour made him pray for those who were stoning him. Love inspired him to reprove those who erred, to make them amend; love led him to pray for those who stoned him, to save them from punishment. Strengthened by the power of his love, he overcame the raging cruelty of Saul and won his persecutor on earth as his companion in heaven. In his holy and tireless love he longed to gain by prayer those whom he could not convert by admonition. Love is the source of all good things; it is the way that leads to heaven. He who walks in love can neither go astray nor be afraid: love guides him, protects him, and brings him to his journey's end. Christ made love the stairway that would enable all Christians to climb to heaven. Hold fast to it, in all sincerity, give one another practical proof of it, and by your progress in it, make your ascent together. 12/24/2003
