"Love, The Stairway to Heaven": Reflections on the Feast of St. Stephen, First Martyr.

In recent days I have been thinking about when we perceive God is absent. The slaughter of children in Connecticut, the mall shootings in Portland, the murder of volunteer fire fighters in New York, the ongoing drones attack in Pakistan, the neglect and rejection of the poor by our political leaders seem to point to a world without God.

Yet  Christians affirm that God is not absent. We confess that God became human and endures human hardship, pain, and death. As at the first Christmas, God's presence may not be recognized easily. Perhaps we look in the wrong places for God. God is where we do not expect the divine. The Apostle John reflects on God's incarnation and states God came to God's own people, but they did not recognize God. "He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not" (John.1:10-11. RSV).

Today we remember St. Stephen, Deacon and First Martyr. In the midst of Christmas we are confronted with the horrors of humanity. This week, in addition to remembering St. Stephen's death at the hands of a lynch mob, we recall the slaughter of children by a vicious, power hungry ruler (December 28: Holy Innocents). What little we know about Stephen we read in the Acts of the Apostles (Chapters 6 and 7). St. Stephen shows us that although we are surrounded by powerful forces of hatred and destruction, we are called to live, even in the midst of death, by ministering to the needs of ordinary people, speaking truth to power,and forgiving instead of seeking revenge.

In his sermon entitled "Armor of Love", St. Fulgentius of Ruspe proclaims that  for St. Stephen,

 "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, indeed, is the source of all good things; it is an impregnable defence,- and 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.
My brothers, Christ made love the stairway that would enable all Christians to climb to heaven. Hold fast to it, therefore, in all sincerity, give one another practical proof of it, and by your progress in it, make your ascent together."
The love ethic of Jesus and embraced by St. Stephen, does not  answer to everyone's satisfaction the universal and persistent questions about evil. Yet  we know that a child born in an obscure village to a poor young couple has changed how many people confront evil.  We may not have lasting and  satisfactory answers to that which we experience as evil, but the Christian can assert the mystery of the Incarnation means in part that God is with us (Emmanuel) and calls us to love.

"We give you thanks, O Lord of glory, for the example of the first martyr Stephen, who looked up to heaven and prayed for his persecutors to your Son Jesus Christ, who stands at your right hand; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen" (Book of Common Prayer. 1979).

Great Advent - O Emmanuel. Antiphon for December 23

O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Expected of nations and their Savior: Come, and save us, O Lord our God

Great Advent - O Rex Gentium. Antiphon for December 22

O King of the Gentiles, and the Desired of all, you are the cornerstone that binds two into one.  Come and save poor humanity, whom you fashioned out of clay.

Great Advent - O Clavis David. Antiphon for December 20

Gratitude For My Parents And Their Love

April is the anniversary of my parents birth. Dad was born on April 5, 1927 and Mom was born on April 29, 1926. They were together for 50 years. Their love for one another, their family, and their friends were powerful. In an earlier blog post I shared my mother's obituary. Here is my Father's obituary: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cecil Augusta Prescod, youngest son of the late Charles and Augusta Prescod was born on April 5, 1927 in Jamaica, NY. Cecil went home on September 10, 2004 after a brief illness. Cecil was an "ole timer" of Jamaica. He attended P.S. 116 and Jamaica High School. He enlisted in the Armed Services on June 29, 1944 and served until his honorable discharge in 1953. Cecil me Eleanor Pollard in 1945. They were joined in marriage on October 22, 1954 and from this union Cecil, LaVerne and Denise were born. Cecil was a man who was never satisfied by sitting still. He held many jobs; he worked for Duggan's Bread Co., the U.S. Post Office, and then decided to go to school to become a butcher. Upon his graduation he went to work for A&P supermarkets until he retired. Cecil wasn't satisfied with being a retiree and went to work for Creedmoor Psychiatric Hospital. When he retired from Creedmoor, he became a NYC School Crossing Guard because of his love for children. Cecil became a member of the St. Alban's Congregational Church United Church of Christ in 1969, where he joined the Inspirational Choir and Bowling League. He wanted to do something for the younger members of the church so he started the St. Alban's Congregational "Saint" basketball team. His other activities included being the District Commissioner of the Boy Scouts of America, umpiring for the Jamaica Central Little League, volunteering at the St. Alban's VA Hospital, serving as an auxiliary policeman for over 20 years, and making every basketball game his grandsons and granddaughter had. He believed that keeping involved kept him young, and if there was something going on in the neighborhood Mr. Prescod know about it, rest assured he was always there; the neighborhood gave him the nickname of "Pop", or Poppa Prescod. On September 10, 2004 Cecil departed this world to join our Father in Heaven. He leaves to mourn his wife Eleanor; one son, the Rev. Cecil C. Prescod; two daughters, LaVerne Paniagua and Denise Slater; four grandchildren, William H. Turnage III, Emery L. Slater Jr., Nikole Prescod, and Nathaniel Bruce; one great -grandson, Jaylen Lewis; one sister, Migglon DeSa; two sister-in-las, Willie Stanford and Florence Prescod; two sons-in law, a very special friend, Mr. John Gibbs, as well as many nieces, nephews, cousins and an infinite amount of friends. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dad and Mom thank you for your love, care, and devotion. I love and miss you. Eternal Rest grant them O Lord.

HELLO AGAIN!

For most of a year, I have been without a home computer. I have not updated this blog since June, when the church celebrated the Ascension of our Lord. And now we are in Eastertide.
I recall a phrase in the Rule of St. Benedict: "Always we begin again".

So the journey continues...

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

Today the Church celebrates the Ascension of Jesus Christ. The following is from a sermon of St. Augustine.

Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him. Listen to the words of the Apostle: If you have risen with Christ, set your hearts on the things that are above where Christ is,seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth. For just as he remained with us even after his ascension, so we too are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies.

Christ is now exalted above the heavens, but he still suffers on earth all the pain that we,
the members of his body, have to bear. He showed this when he cried out from above:
Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? and when he said: I was hungry and you gave me
food.

Why do we on earth not strive to find rest with him in heaven even now, through the faith,
hope and love that unites us to him? While in heaven he is also with us; and we while on
earth are with him. He is here with us by his divinity, his power and his love. We cannot be
in heaven, as he is on earth, by divinity, but in him, we can be there by love.

He did not leave heaven when he came down to us; nor did he withdraw from us when he
went up again into heaven. The fact that he was in heaven even while he was on earth is
borne out by his own statement: No one has ever ascended into heaven except the one
who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.

These words are explained by our oneness with Christ, for he is our head and we are his
body. No one ascended into heaven except Christ because we also are Christ: he is the
Son of Man by his union with us, and we by our union with him are the sons of God. So
the Apostle says: Just as the human body, which has many members, is a unity, because
all the different members make one body, so is it also with Christ. He too has many
members, but one body.