Holy Innocents

"Herod ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under." Mt 2:17

Today's feast is full of dread, hurt and rage. While for a moment the title of the feast can distract us by speaking of the slaughtered children as "innocents," it is the horror the parents of these children had to bear that bores a hole of unspeakable loss in our collective consciousness. Authentic faith demands that we stand and weep for those who lost their lives, and for their families who had to find their way in the darkness of senseless violence.

On Christmas day this year, those of us living in the Eastern United States learned of a terrible fire that took the life of three young children and their grandparents.  How will the mother of these children, who was asleep when the fire started and then unable to reach them because of the intensity of the flames, survive?  Is there anything anyone can say or do to bring her comfort and eventually acceptance? The overwhelming horror of this tragedy is too difficult to even think about, and the same must have been true for the parents of the children Herod murdered.

No doubt some of the aggrieved parents plotted revenge against Herod while others numbed themselves with work or wine or anything else to help blunt their pain, but there is no escaping the enormity of their loss, and rage always destroys everything in is path. For believers only the strength of the community of faith, which wraps us in compassion and carries us for a while, makes any sense. Not intended to deny or sanitize the loss, our prayer merely sustains those leveled by the insane act of a madman, and we throw ourselves upon God's mercy begging for help.

At the same time, the feast of the Holy Innocents forces us to think about the destructive ability we all have. Though it is difficult to admit, each of us has torn the life out of another by slander, calumny, or hurtful talk about their backgrounds, race, sexual orientation or culture. Acknowledging our personal and communal sin is the first step on the path to reconcilation. Only admitting our guilt without explanation or excuse allows those we have hurt to offer us authentic forgiveness.

Today, pray for the grace to see the hurt you have caused before asking forgiveness.