The Holy Innocents

 

  Matthew 2: 13-18

The Flight into Egypt

¹³ Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”

¹⁴ When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, ¹⁵ and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

Massacre of the Innocents

¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. ¹⁷ Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:

¹⁸ “A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more.”

The slaughter of innocent children is always a shocker. When we picture this brutality complete with the sounds of horrified and hysterical mothers weeping over their children "for they were no more", it doesn't get any prettier.  We've just relived the "night of the dear Savior's birth" with the star hovering over the stable, the voices of angels singing "Glory to God in the Highest", and simple shepherds standing in awe and reverence before the Holy Child.  What a contrast today's picture poses.  And yet so true of our human condition where the lust for power and control, and fear of losing our security or the desire for dominance have been at the root of wars. revolutions and rampant brutality  for centuries.  Would that angels would warn us and help us find safety as they did with the Holy Family. This Gospel Passage might trigger in us a desire to work for the protection of the innocent, if not simply to pray for the end of such brutality.

Bro. Rene