Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Innocents, all those young boys
in and around Bethlehem, two and under, whom Herod had massacred in
order to kill Jesus Christ.
Today we honor their sacrifice. And
through our honoring of them, and worship of God, we seek to atone for
the many sins against human life, beginning with abortion, and including
other forms of murder, and euthanasia, disregard for the safety and
dignity of others, mistreatment and indifference to the plight of
others, and all other sins against life.
Where does human cruelty come from?
Surely it grows in us by stages, for most of us are not born with
murderous fear of others. It is “bequeathed” to us by others, and we
grow it in our heart. Hatred, rooted in fear, is handed on down through
the generations, and the murderous inherit a thinking that there are
some who are not worthy of their respect and love. Perhaps they are a
threat, perhaps their relatives did something in the past. Perhaps they
may do something in the future. Herod was clearly a fearful man, so
fearful that he was unmoved by the cries of wailing parents, or of
suffering infants. His heart had grow cruel through repeated
insensitivity inflicted on others, due to raging and irrational fear.
An Old Latin Hymn says, Crudelis Herodes, Deum Regem venire quid times? Non eripit mortalia, Qui regna dat caelestia
(Cruel Herod what do you fear in the King and God to come? He seizes
not earthly things who gives heavenly kingdoms). But in the end it IS
his fear that drives him.
We know well that Holy Innocents continue to be killed in our world through abortion.
And here too, it is most often fear that drives the killing. How will
the baby be afforded?! What changes will this baby bring that I cannot
take? Perhaps the prenatal tests show a possible defect. I cannot deal
with this! What if my parents know that I am pregnant? How will this
pregnancy affect my career?! What if my father finds out I got my
girl-friend pregnant!? And society says, What of poverty? What of
overpopulation? What of deformity? How can we collectively handle all
this?
And thus fear drives the current bloodshed.
Fear makes us focus on our self, such that we think too little of what
we do to others. Abortion thus becomes an “abstraction,” an “issue”
that is debated, a “choice.” Abortion, to many, is anything but real.
The reality of fetal pain is out of sight and thus less real than the
fear. What abortion is doing to our world, that too is less real than
the fear. It is the fear that is real, and the fear eclipses
everything else. And fear desensitizes, and thus the killing of the
innocent becomes plausible, a woman’s “choice,” reproductive “freedom.”
The only solution to fear
is trust, faith in God. God alone can set us free from the awful fears
that currently drive abortion. We in the Church must be realistic about
the fears that many face before the mystery of new life and we must
provide reasons for hope and trust. Fear is a cruel task-master and it
drives us to do some pretty awful things.
One of the most common lines in the New
Testament is “Do not be afraid.” Hope, trust and Faith are important to
us on this feast of the Holy Innocents.
There is also this dangerous thought on this Holy Feast.
I’ll explain what I mean by “dangerous” in a moment. But for now consider some biblical facts with me.
- When God was drawing close to liberating his chosen people from slavery in Egypt there occurred the order to murder of the all the baby boys among the Hebrews. It is almost as though Satan sensed that God was up to something good, and Satan raged, through Pharaoh, in murderous anger driven by fear. Thankfully the actual numbers were reduced since the Egyptian midwives engaged in civil disobedience, refusing to allow the practice to continue.
- At the time of Jesus, when God was preparing to liberate his people from sin, there also occurred the murder of innocent baby boys. Here too, it is almost as though the Devil sensed that God was up to something good and, he once again raged, this time through Herod, in murderous anger driven by fear. Thankfully too this infanticide also ended at some point.
- Notice the pattern. When God prepared a great liberation, the Devil, raging in fear, went after the babies. In our time, on a scale as never before, the Devil is going after our babies in murderous anger driven by fear. What is he afraid of? Is God planning something big in the near future? Is there a great liberation at hand? Is there a great advancement of evangelization and conversion in the offing? We can only speculate. But patterns are patterns and Scripture has a way of repeating its patterns and echoing down through the centuries.
Why is this a dangerous reflection?
Because I want to make it clear that abortion, the killing of the
innocents in our age, is NOT, and never can be, considered something
good, or a “positive sign.” Such a speculation might cause some to
wrongly conclude that abortion is part of God’s plan or something we
should see “positively.” We should not. It must be fought. It is of
Satan, it is rooted in fear.
End the Massacre And the Glory follows – I
want to conclude by reminding you that the great liberation that
followed the past infanticides did not occur until AFTER those murderous
rages were stopped. Hence, to follow the pattern established in
Scripture, and to see a potentially great and liberating act of God, we
must first see an end to the slaughter. Work and pray to end abortion.
May the Holy Innocents pray for us!
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