Daily Gospel Reflection
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December 28, 2021
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.
Evil exists. It was alive two thousand years ago during the malicious heartbreak of the holy innocents, and sadly, unjustified cruelty is still active in the world today.
Human trafficking, starvation, lack of access to clean water and healthcare, abortion—these are but a few of the evils causing needless suffering to modern-day, holy innocents.
The evasive response to unfathomable horrors such as these is to curse the heavens for allowing them to transpire. Since God is all-powerful, the philosophical question follows: why doesn’t God simply eliminate brutality, hunger, and poverty?
Perhaps the more relevant question for Christians is not why God allows evil in this world, but rather, what are we doing to combat it? If we are the hands, feet, and voice of the divine, how regularly are we reaching out to the suffering and raising them to new life?
Seeing with the eyes of the Lord, do we focus on the disasters and calamities to offer assistance, or do we look the other away and pretend they are not our problem? God did not create tragedies. However, our Creator did form us. It is our responsibility to transform the world.
Evil does indeed exist, and we do too.
Maybe the best way to memorialize the martyrdom of the holy innocents of the past is for all of us to seek the grace to work tirelessly towards preventing further atrocities from continuing into the future.
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.