Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
December 28, 2019
When the magi had departed, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”
Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”
When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
“A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”
My 20-month old grandson, under two years of age, like the Holy Innocents, is the friendliest person in the library on our weekly visits. In his innocence, he waves at virtually everyone. He seems to have a sense that the intellectually disabled (to whom Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche, referred as “innocents”), who are there with their assistants, need a special wave.
The word “innocents” is nowhere in this Gospel text for this Feast of the Holy Innocents, but how precious that this is the word chosen by the Church to describe these children massacred by Herod. Are we not meant to have a special place in our hearts for the most innocent, like children, even while we try to be Christlike in our love for the most guilty, like Herod?
Given the political nature of King Herod’s mass murder, some comparisons to current threats to innocents are irresistible. As a Church, we pray and advocate for legal protection of the unborn, the most vulnerable innocents. As a Church, we pray for and promote nuclear disarmament, in part because these weapons that kill indiscriminately are targeting innocent children..
As a Church, we affirm the right to migrate to gain safety and security, as the Holy Family did as innocent refugees (the second of our lady’s seven sorrows). The Christ-Child (Christ-Toddler?!) may have taken his first steps on Egyptian soil and may have first uttered “Abba” as a refugee. In his innocence, perhaps he started waving at people then and there. How can we open our hearts wider to embrace the Innocents in our world today?
Prayer
Merciful God, on this feast of the Holy Innocents, we are mindful of the gift and sacredness of life. May your Son, who endured hardship and struggle, who knew the fear in troubled hearts, bring his healing presence to a world in need. Comfort all those who are grieving. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
The story of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents is part of the narrative of Jesus’ birth. Herod governed the Jewish portion of the Roman Empire when Jesus was born. When he heard that people looked for the birth of a new “king of the Jews,” and that scholars from the east had already come to worship him, Herod felt threatened.
He learned that this Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, and sent for the visiting magi. He cross-examined them to learn what they knew, then told them to report back to him after they found the child under the pretense that he, Herod, wanted to pay homage as well. The magi were warned in a dream to avoid returning to Herod, so they went home a different way.
At the same time, an angel warned Joseph to flee with Mary and Jesus to Egypt because “Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him” (Mt 2:13). The image below, which stands in the Beichner Married Student Housing Center chapel, depicts the Holy Family's flight to Egypt.
When Herod learned that the magi had deceived him, he became furious and ordered the murder of all the boys in and near Bethlehem 2 years old or younger.
Herod was a barbaric ruler responsible for many crimes and slaughters. Tradition has inferred the slaughter of the Bethlehem children to have killed many children—anywhere from 14,000 to 144,000—but it is not likely that nearly this many were killed. Estimating by the size of Bethlehem, including its surroundings, there could not have been more than 25 baby boys 2 years old or younger at any given time.
The feast of the Holy Innocents has been remembered by the Church since the fifth century. These children are venerated as martyrs of sorts—they died not only for Christ but actually instead of Christ. St. Augustine called them buds killed by the frost of persecution the moment they showed themselves.
The Holy Innocents are honored as patrons of babies, and some of the relics in the Basilica reliquary chapel indicate that they come from these children. Today's featured image, which depicts their slaughter, is part of the collection in the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art on campus and is used with their permission.
Holy Innocents, you were killed in the place of Christ and are patron saints of all infants—pray for us!
Image Credit: Studio of Ludovico Mazzolino (Italian), Massacre of the Innocents, early 16th century, oil on copper. Raclin Murphy Museum of Art: Gift of Dr. M. L. Busch, 1953.006.