Daily Gospel Reflection
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December 28, 2022
When the magi had departed, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
“Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,
and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.”
Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night
and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod,
that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,
Out of Egypt I called my son.
When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi,
he became furious.
He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity
two years old and under,
in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.
Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:
A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loud lamentation;
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she would not be consoled,
since they were no more.
Had the Magi returned to King Herod before heading home, would the holy innocents have been spared?
There is no way to tell. When answering to a paranoid, ruthless dictator, they knew there was the risk of their own deaths. And in avoiding him, they could not have anticipated all consequences of Herod’s megalomania.
Like all people of good faith, the Magi believed they were doing the best they could do at the moment with the information available to them. And then a senseless act of violence came.
Although we easily understand the limits of human wisdom and effort, it’s different when we experience the shocking loss. Our grieving hearts re-run the butterfly effect of our choices over and over again as if we could avoid every horrible thing in this world through sheer will. “If only I had… Instead, I should have… None of this would have happened if I…”
There are so many ways our wise and loving choices translate into direct goods that we can see and share with others in this world that when we sometimes come face to face with an uncontrollable evil, we forget that God is still God. God is at work in and through the world regardless of our good deeds and wise choices (or evil deeds and foolish choices).
The angel appeared to Joseph, who took Mary and the baby Jesus to Egypt regardless of the good the Magi decided to do and regardless of the evil Herod decided to do.
No, nothing good came from the slaughter of the innocents, but we can say, despite this horrible atrocity, God was still at work bringing Christ’s love and salvation to the world.
And continues to do so today.
Prayer
Lord, we read today about the death of innocent children whom Herod killed in his rage. How many innocent children have been massacred over the ages by those who mock your rule of peace! Give us the courage and insight to do everything we can to bring about a world of peace where the innocent no longer are slaughtered. 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 (read more about the status of relics in the reliquary chapel here). 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.