The Slaughter

28 Dec

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.
Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:

A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loud lamentation;
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she would not be consoled,
since they were no more.  (Mt 2:16-18)

Babies two years old and under were slaughtered because King Herod saw them as a threat.  One of them, he reasoned, was a newborn king and he would not have any competition survive.  Because of that, he ordered a wholesale massacre.

Children are still being massacred on a wholesale basis in the act of abortion.  Other infants have lost their lives to genocide.  There are those who deem, for one reason or another, that the children have no right to live.

Jesus came into the world so that God could prove that He loved us.  Jesus taught His followers that the most important law was to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind and to love our neighbor as our self.  He never intended for others to lose their lives, especially because of Him.

Our world is in desperate shape.  The Feast of the Holy Innocents reminds us that we can be a vicious, cruel, and murderous people.  But it does not have to be that way.

God has given us free will.  We can choose to be vicious and cruel.  We can also choose to be kind and loving.

Let us make the right choice this day.

FAITH ACTION:  Pray for all the millions of innocents who have lost their lives to acts of violence or apathy:  for those aborted, for those murdered in genocide, for those who died in mass starvation, for those killed in religious wars, and other heinous incidents.