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“Massacre of the Innocents” (detail)
by Gaspare Diziani 1733 |
Readings for the Feast of the Holy Innocents [1]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
Readings and Commentary: [3]
Reading 1: 1 John 1:5—2:2
Beloved:
This is the message that we have heard from Jesus Christ
and proclaim to you:
God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.
If we say, “We have fellowship with him,”
while we continue to walk in darkness,
we lie and do not act in truth.
But if we walk in the light as he is in the light,
then we have fellowship with one another,
and the Blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
If we say, “We are without sin,”
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just
and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.
If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar,
and his word is not in us.
My children, I am writing this to you
so that you may not commit sin.
But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous one.
He is expiation for our sins,
and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.
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Commentary on 1 Jn 1:5—2:2
We are given, in this selection, a foundational Scripture passage upon which the sacrament of reconciliation rests. The logic St. John uses flows nicely: Jesus, the Christ, is light. When we sin we walk in darkness. When we admit our sin, the Lord who is “expiation for our sins,” brings us back into the light. If we try to deceive ourselves, saying we are not sinful, we fall, and in a sense make Jesus’ sacrifice meaningless.
“Light is to be understood here as truth and goodness; darkness here is error and depravity (cf. John 3:19-21; 17:17; Ephesians 5:8). To walk in light or darkness is to live according to truth or error, not merely intellectual but moral as well. Fellowship with God and with one another consists in a life according to the truth as found in God and in Christ.” Then for v. 8-10: "Denial of the condition of sin is self-deception and even contradictory of divine revelation; there is also the continual possibility of sin's recurrence. Forgiveness and deliverance from sin through Christ are assured through acknowledgment of them and repentance.” [4] The final verses of this selection profess the Trinity as One God: “we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.”
CCC: 1 Jn 1:5 214; 1 Jn 1:6 2470; 1 Jn 1:7-2:2 2631; 1 Jn 1:8-10 827; 1 Jn 1:8-9 1847; 1 Jn 1:8 1425; 1 Jn 1:10 2147;1 Jn 2:1-2 1460; 1 Jn 2:1 519, 692, 2634; 1 Jn 2:2 605, 606
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 124:2-3, 4-5, 7cd-8
R. (7) Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the fowler’s snare.
Had not the Lord been with us—
When men rose up against us,
then would they have swallowed us alive,
When their fury was inflamed against us.
R. Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the fowler’s snare.
Then would the waters have overwhelmed us;
The torrent would have swept over us;
over us then would have swept the raging waters.
R. Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the fowler’s snare.
Broken was the snare,
and we were freed.
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
R. Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the fowler’s snare.
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Commentary on Ps 124:2-3, 4-5, 7cd-8
The psalm is one of thanksgiving to the Lord for his gift of salvation: salvation from physical enemies and salvation from nature’s fury. The song thanks God who rescues us if we but reach out to him. The final verse, v.8, combined with "Blessed be the name of the LORD - both now and forever." (Psalm 113:2) is a traditional final blessing when Mass is celebrated by a bishop and is called episcopal or pontifical blessing.
CCC: Ps 124:8 287
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Gospel: Matthew 2:13-18
When the magi had departed, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
“Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,
and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.”
Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night
and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod,
that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,
Out of Egypt I called my son.
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.
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Commentary on Matthew 2:13-18
Now that Jesus has come not as the Divine Word, but incarnate, God and the Holy Spirit relate to him in a new way, through the human medium. God had chosen St. Joseph to care for his “uncreated wisdom.” The Lord speaks to Joseph in a dream in the most intimate terms telling him to “flee to Egypt.” And Joseph, strongest in obedience and strongest in action, does so immediately, taking his family with him by night. In this he is the perfect image of the Christian apostolate. [5]
St. Matthew provides the story of the slaughter of the innocent children of Bethlehem. We are told how Herod, in his frustration at being deceived by the magi, sends troops to kill all the male children under the age of two. We are also reminded that this event, and the warning received by Joseph to take the infant Jesus to Egypt, were both predicted in Scripture.
In this ironic twist, the saga of Moses is replayed in an inverse way. A slaughter of innocents preceded his advent, and the trek to Egypt by the Holy Family recalls the exodus event now relived by the Savior. “The fulfillment citation is taken from Hosea 11:1. Israel, God's son, was called out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus; Jesus, the Son of God, will similarly be called out of that land in a new exodus. The father-son relationship between God and the nation is set in a higher key. Here the son is not a group adopted as 'son of God,' but the child who, as conceived by the Holy Spirit, stands in unique relation to God. He is son of David and of Abraham, of Mary and of Joseph, but, above all, of God.” [6] The passage concludes with a quote of Jeremiah 31:15 in which Rachel (wife of the patriarch Jacob) is weeping for her descendants taken into exile at the time of the Assyrian invasion (586 BC). Tradition holds her lament was so profound it was heard for miles. St. Matthew uses this story to depict Bethlehem as the new city of sorrow. [7]
CCC: Mt 2:13-18 530; Mt 2:13 333; Mt 2:15 530
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Reflection:
In this feast day we remember the innocent lives of the first martyrs for Christ. St. Matthew describes how Herod, in great fear of losing his kingship, commits the sin of pharaoh, murdering innocent babes. In doing so, he turned his back on the one who could assure him a kingship eternal and in peace.
The current world-wide assault on the sanctity of life brings this story into sharp focus. There is a great danger facing mankind, and secular leadership already stands at the precipice of a very slippery slope (some say they are already hurtling toward the pit). When this Gospel story of infanticide is told we immediately think of the struggle between the opponents of life and those who find life sacred. This debate is not just about abortion. It has truly reached into our homes and touches each one of us. If we take the position that an embryo is not a human life until the fetus draws breath and is born, all manner of moral issues are brought into contention – not just the recent decision to allow human embryos to be destroyed in the name of stem cell research, but the entire idea that human life has value at all is placed in question.
In the United States: in Oregon we already see the path this lack of respect for human life can take. Not only does Oregon allow doctor-assisted suicide, but its state sponsored medical coverage has placed a dollar value on a person’s life. Using a formula that must have been inspired by Herod himself, a person’s quality of life is evaluated before certain types of life-saving medical procedures will be authorized. If, under the formula, an expensive procedure like hip replacement is requested by a person who may only have a few years left in their expected life, it will be rejected. The state considers the expenditure wasted because that person may only be made marginally more comfortable for an anticipated short period of time.
It is not a large leap from the destruction of embryos and the devaluing of human life to government-sponsored pregnancy in which the embryos are harvested for research (while the government did not sponsor the pregnancy per se, Planned Parenthood seems to have assumed the role of “parts broker” in this scenario). Or to allow children who are lobotomized in the womb or manipulated outside the womb in a lab to be born without any possibility of intellect, so their organs may be harvested – same principle as the destruction of embryos for stem cell research, just taken to the next step. They would, after all, not really be people.
Today also, we join with our Holy Father, Pope Francis, in praying for those innocents dying daily in Northern Africa and the Middle East, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, where radical Muslims are waging a war on all Jews and Christians. We pray also for our own country where Christian moral values are being systematically eroded by the secular forces, oblivious to the culture of death they foster.
When we think about Herod’s heinous act, we should ask those infant martyrs to pray for us that we might continue the fight for the sanctity of life in all its phases. With God all things are possible; perhaps with enough of our prayers some of those who care only for themselves may be brought to the light of understanding.
Pax
[1] The picture is “Massacre of the Innocents” (detail) by Gaspare Diziani 1733.
[2] S.S. Commemoratio[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] NAB footnote on 1 John 1:1-5.[5] Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word Volume I, Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, © 1996 p. 89.[6] NAB footnote on Matthew 2:15.
[7] The Gospel of Matthew, © 2010 Curtis Mitch and Edward Sri, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, MI, p. 57.
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