More martyrs. Following the trend set on December 26th, the martyrdom of St. Stephen, two days later we celebrate the atrocious slaughter of boys two years old and younger from the Bethlehem region by the angry and fearful King Herod. He was afraid of losing his throne, his power, to this "newborn king" announced to him by the Magi. When they did not report back to him as to the whereabouts of this child as he had requested, his wrath let loose, and he who had ordered the murder of two of his own sons, had no qualms about slaughtering these innocent children, who never knew Jesus nor saw him in action, but nevertheless died in his place. Yes, "Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be comforted, because they were no more." (Mt 2:18).
We weep over the untimely death of any child, and in today's world, those numbers are staggering. In 2018, 6.2 million children age 15 and younger, died, and 5.3 million were under the age of 5. Many are not victims in place of Christ, but simply victims of the same fear and lust for power that motivated Herod. The sickness of our world, believe it or not, has been healed by the death and resurrection of Jesus. If each one of us put our faith into practice from the depths of our hearts to the minutest of our actions, the power of the resurrection would surely over-power the forces of evil that seem to have control, but don't.
Bro. Rene
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