Feast of the Holy Innocents, martyrs
Today's Scripture
Today we continue our celebration of Christmas, so merry Christmas!!! We are now in the fourth day of the Octave of Christmas. But today in the midst of our rejoicing that God has come to us as a humble babe, we have a bit of sorrow. It should not surprise us that the greatest of joys also comes with pain and suffering, especially since we know that this small child Jesus will end his earthly life nailed to a cross. Yet even before Jesus’ own death, others suffered. Our feast today commemorates the “holy innocents,” the ones who were put to death at Herod’s command when he sought to eliminate competition to the throne by massacring all the boys of Bethlehem under the age of two. Even before Jesus’ own death 30 years later, these boys and their families suffered for the new life that God had brought to the world. In a sense, they are martyrs, that is, they are witnesses to God dwelling among us on earth and the conflict that often brings.
When we think of Herod’s command for such a mass killing, we must certainly react with horror at a man who could be so utterly selfish and sinful, so blatantly cold-blooded. But our reflections ought not to stop there. Rather, we need also to feel pity and compassion for Herod while at the same time recognizing our own sins and how they cause pain in the lives of others. Today in our world, there continue to be mass killings of the young, particularly the unborn who die in abortion, but also in places of persistent ethnic conflict and war waged by first-world countries such as our own. There is a real injustice in the deaths of these children, and we cannot simply blame Herod for them. Our own sins implicate us in the sufferings of these other holy innocents.
Our first reading from the 1st Letter of St. John points to the need for us to acknowledge our sins. We must not sin; we must strive every day to avoid sin and to walk in the light that was granted us by the coming of Christ in our world. And yet we will inevitably sin. We commit sins of omission (not doing things we should) as well as sins of comission (doing things we shouldn’t do). We often fail to support those around us who need our help, particularly the poor and the needy, the sick and even pregnant women and young children.
We celebrate Christmas today – yes. But Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem has not removed all conflict. His death and resurrection have not saved us from our own sins and failings. Rather, the Incarnation and Nativity have made it possible for us to move beyond conflict, for us to work through our sins and accept God’s grace just as we accept the baby born to us in Bethlehem.
Today’s feast reminds us that injustice and suffering will continue to occur, and we are often to blame for this. If we want to hold onto the miracle of Christmas throughout the year, we will have to realize that Jesus’ birth gives us a way to understand suffering, sin, and, most of all, God’s grace. The holy innocents did not end in annihilation; they ended in eternal life, witnesses to God’s dwelling among us. Let us pray that we might always recall God’s love for us that led him to live with us and let this love guide us through suffering and sin to an ever deeper relationship with him.
- Maria Morrow