2024-12-26  6:15 pm Celebration of the Holy Mass for  the 2nd Day in the Octave of Christmas.

2024-12-26 6:15 pm Celebration of the Holy Mass for the 2nd Day in the Octave of Christmas.

Good evening and welcome to the celebration of the Holy Mass for Thursday, the 2nd day of the Octave of Christmas. Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Stephen, the first recorded martyr in the New Testament. It is interesting that we celebrated the birth of Jesus yesterday and today we celebrate the martyrdom of St. Stephen. This reminds us that we do not just stop at the creche and celebrate the joy of Jesus' birth; we need to remember why he came to earth in the first place. Jesus goes before us on the way to the cross. Yes, this is the time to celebrate the birth of Jesus but remember that he came to take our sins upon himself so that we could have eternal life. Let us pray in gratitude to our heavenly Father for the gift of his Son, Jesus, our Savior and our Redeemer. In all things, we can proclaim with the Psalmist: "Into your hands, O Lord, I entrust my spirit". The Responsorial Psalm is Psalm 31: "'Into your hands, O Lord, I entrust my spirit."