Feast of the Holy Innocents – Matthew
2:13-18
Today’s Gospel began with an angel
appearing to Joseph in a dream. The angel told him: “Rise, take the child
and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you." The angel
warned Joseph that Herod was searching for the child and that his plan was to
kill the child.
On hearing these words, Joseph
immediately took Mary and Jesus and they began the long journey to Egypt.
They stayed in Egypt until the received word of Herod’s death.
When Herod realized that Mary and
Joseph had taken Jesus to safety, he was furious! He vented his anger by
ordering a massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and the region. Any male
child two years and younger was to be killed. Thus, the prophecy of
Jeremiah, written centuries earlier, was fulfilled: “A voice was heard in
Ramah, sobbing, wailing, and lamenting."
The “mystery of life” continues on
in our life time. Just as there was wailing, sorrow, and lamenting in
Jesus’ day, there also is wailing, sorrow, and lamenting in our day.
Sadly, there are many places in our world where people are suffering
significantly. If we were ever to have true peace in our world, we might
not recognize this planet as our home. We might think that we have gone
to heaven.
What
can you and I do to make our world more loving and more peace-filled? Let
us to strive to act and respond lovingly to the people and the situations that
we encounter as we go about our daily routine today. We may not be able
to change the world, but we can strive to make our "little corner of the
world” a more loving and joyful place. Who knows? The actions
of one person may make your “little corner of the world” a brighter and more
loving place
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