On the day after Christmas we can OD on sweetness — the literal sweetness of all the cookies we’ve eaten and the emotional sweetness of seeing the children happy and excited. But the Church does not indulge is such sentiments. Instead on the day after Christmas we turn to St. Stephen, the first martyr. The impact of Christmas, we are told, is not sweetness but light. The light of truth which is the gospel creates opposition that lead to the death of Jesus and a few years later to that of Stephen. We indulge in Christmas gaiety aware that there is a cost looming on the horizon. Just as we must pay for all those Christmas gifts, adoring the new born king costs us our lives.
