When the Magi had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a
dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and
remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to
destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and
went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill
what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have
called my son.”
When Herod saw that he had been tricked by
the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and
around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he
had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through
the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud
lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled,
because they are no more.”
Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Innocent babies, less than two
years of age, killed by an order of King Herod in his fury for being tricked by
the Magi who ruined his plan to kill a possible future rival king. He had
instructed these wise men from the East to return to him and inform him about
where he could meet this new-born king so he could pay him homage. Matthew
tells us that the king wanted the wise men’s help as informants in his plan to
kill his rival. Herod was king, and he thought he had power, but the men from
the East were wise and they had the real power. They could read God’s signs and
they followed the star that led them to the New-born King. They accepted the
dream that warned them not to return to Herod and so foiled his plan to kill
the Child. Herod thought he had power, so in his fury he ordered the killing of
many children thinking that he would surely kill his future rival. Wanting to
save his throne, Herod brought sorrow and suffering and death. It seems that
this was his trade mark. He killed everyone who he thought could be his rival.
In his wisdom God preserved the New-born child, His Son, so that by his work,
death and resurrection he could give life to the full to all humankind. Indeed,
as Bishop Fulton Sheen once said, the shadow of the cross overshadowed the
manger that was Christ’s first bed.
The killing of the Innocents is reported only by Matthew. Did it really
happen? The Roman Jewish historian, Josephus, does not mention it in his
history which reports many of Herod's misdeeds, including murdering his own
sons. However this does not mean that the killing did not occur. The story's absence in this Roman scholar’s
history could mean that the murder of a few infants in a small village was not
on a scale to match the more spectacular assassinations he recorded.
How many children were killed? Matthew does not tell us. He is a
preacher and not a historian. So he is more interested in a theological
reflection than in exact reporting. Authors throughout the ages mention any
number from six to one hundred and forty four thousand babies killed. However,
if the estimated population of Bethlehem was about one thousand at the time
this happened, the number of children killed couldn’t have been much more than
twenty. Even if he had killed only one, this would have been one too many!
Is the number of children killed so important? Not really! Matthew’s
message as a preacher and writer of the gospel is that ever since the Son of
God became Son of Man, he entered our history and suffered at the hands of
cruel men, like many others did and still do. History tells us how people try
to solve their personal problems by killing others. Herod wanted to kill Baby
Jesus for he imagined Him a rival king. Nowadays people make recourse to
violence and terrorism to promote and establish their personal point of view,
and many say they do this in God’s name. People resort to killing innocent
babies in the womb and proclaim this as a human right and that no authority
should interfere with their supposed right to abortion. And people think they
have a human right to make recourse to euthanasia to rid themselves of
unproductive old or very sick persons. People give this action better-sounding
names. Its real name, though, is murder or, according to Catholic teaching, a "crime
against life".
Is Herod really dead? It seems that he is not, in the sense that he is
still alive in those who subscribe to his hideous policies and methods. There
are those who would consider a criminal anyone who treats an animal badly and
at the same time proclaim their right to kill innocent babies in the womb!
Herod is still around!
Why do we celebrate a feast to remember the killing of the Holy
Innocents? It is not as if we are happy that these things happened and are
happening. No, we are not! The killings are horrible when seen from our side of
life. In God’s hands they are seen under a different light. People who are
deemed not important and expendable from our side, are seen as God’s beloved
children and are lovingly embraced by God when cruel men throw them out of our
human world. Or is our world inhuman? We call them martyrs. This they are!
What is the message we receive on this feast? It speaks about the
meaning of the mystery of the Incarnation. In order not to let ourselves be
overwhelmed by the celebrations around Christmas, with all the lights, stars
and angels, presents and decorations, liturgy as if shocks us back into the
daily realities of our lives. The day after Christmas we celebrate St.
Stephen’s day. Stephen was a deacon and the first martyr of Christianity who
was accused of blasphemy and was stoned to death. Yesterday, being the first
Sunday after Christmas we celebrated the Holy Family of Nazareth, Mary, Joseph and
Jesus. In our Catholic calendar on December 27 we normally celebrate the feast
of St. John the beloved apostle, writer of the fourth gospel who died in his
old age although he also suffered persecution. On the 28th of
December, today, we celebrate the Holy Innocents.
These celebrations tell us that, having rightfully celebrated Christmas
Day, we should return to normal life, let us say, and remember that angels and
stars are messengers that help us sail the troubled waters of our human
history. When the Son of God accepted His Father’s invitation to become Son of
Man, he was aware in what type of history he was entering, what humans were
able to do when they do not accept God’s plan for our lives. He accepted all
the risks inherent to this and he became truly man so that he could teach us by
word and example how to live human life to the full. This is why he incarnated,
why he came to our world and willingly gave up his life so that others could
live here on earth and in eternity. He wanted to tell us that no one has
greater love than this, to offer one’s life for his friends. And we are God’s
friends!
Let us rejoice, then, in this feast of the Holy Innocents, although we
recall the sad and macabre scene of children being killed and mothers weeping
and lamenting for their babies because they are no more. Let us focus on
Christ’s love for us and accept his gift of life and his call for all of us to
protect life wherever we find it from birth to natural death. This is God’s
plan and we are his children, his friends and his disciples to whom he gave the
mission to make disciples of all nations so that, together, we could sing glory
to God and work towards peace on earth.
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