An angel had once again visited Saint Joseph, this time warning him to flee to Egypt, with Mary and the Christ child, for so threatened was King Herod by the possibility of the loss of earthly power, that he was planning to search for Jesus and have him killed. And so furious was he when he learned he was tricked by the wise men, he had all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under killed.
The Church honors these Holy Innocents today, baptized by blood in witness to the true Lord and King.
In each age, history has its own Herod’s, those who will not stop at any extreme to safeguard their own personal kingdoms. Christians continue to be martyred around the world. Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday lamented “savage acts of terrorism” that frequently target Christian churches in Nigeria, during his traditional Christmas message, yet as one group of Nigerian Christians gathered for worship Christmas Eve, a group of gunmen stormed their church, killed a number of them, and then set fire to the church building. Our country still grieves the loss of those young school children killed in Connecticut.
Christ shines as light in the darkness for all ages.
Jesus Christ is the light who has come into the darkness of this world, to lead us out of the darkness and selfishness which alienate us from one another, out of the darkness and selfishness of our own personal kingdoms into the one kingdom of light where we have communion with God and one another.
Christmas is a celebration of light and life— the shining radiance of the life of Christ. Saint John spoke of the darkness of sin this morning which is antithetical to the light of Christ. We revile sin because sin makes us into rivals of God’s kingdom, like Herod.
And as Christians we are called to witness to the light of Christ and his Gospel of Life.
So we pray, through the intercession of the Holy Innocents, that we may be always faithful in sharing the light of God’s truth and goodness and beauty to the world, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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