Dec. 28 - Feast of Martyrs: 2 yrs old and younger!

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Another Feast - so close to the Birth of Christ - is the Feast of the Holy Innocents who died for Christ. Today’s Mass readings help us ponder the Light of Christ’s Birth, and the darkness of Herod’s order for the “death” of boys 2 yrs old and younger. Today’s First Reading is from the First Letter of John:

Beloved:
This is the message that we have heard from Jesus Christ
and proclaim to you:
God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.
If we say, “We have fellowship with him,”
while we continue to walk in darkness,
we lie and do not act in truth.
But if we walk in the light as he is in the light,
then we have fellowship with one another,
and the Blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
If we say, “We are without sin,”
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just
and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.
If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar,
and his word is not in us.

My children, I am writing this to you
so that you may not commit sin.
But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous one.
He is expiation for our sins,
and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.

The beloved disciple John writes to us as a tender father loving all God’s children as God loves us, and as Jesus commands us. Herod, however, did not walk in God’s light but preferred the darkness. In the Gospel of Matthew for today we hear:

…When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi…

Darkness continues in our world when men (and women) turn from God’s Light and His Commandments, and we seek ourselves. By God’s Grace, let us walk in the Light of Christ rather than to choose the darkness of sin. Let us learn from Jesus through Mary to love one another as God has loved us.