Feast of the Holy Innocents

Today is the feast of the Holy Innocents. You remember, the biblical account of infanticide by Herod the Great, the Roman-appointed King of the Jews. According to the Gospel of Matthew (2:16-18), Herod ordered the execution of all young male children in the vicinity of Bethlehem, so as to avoid the loss of his throne to a newborn King of the Jews whose birth had been announced to him by the Magi.

In our time, "In a culture too often unfriendly to children, the victims of Bethlehem have become an emblem of all discarded children, cast away nameless on the streets, in crack houses, in pornographic film studios, and, a recent focus, in the disposal bins of abortion centers, because they got in the way of someone's pleasure, or ambition. They are our tragedy, but the adults who demean them, exploit them, abandon them are the Enemy's triumph in the war of evil versus good, death versus life."

We are all too unafflicted and unconcerned by this tragedy and crisis in our culture. My parish has over 4,000 families, yet we cannot get more than two or three at our monthly Respect Life meetings.

[Quote from "waiting in Joyful Hope" Liturgical Press, 2015]