Holy Innocents

In December, all over the world, creches are set up in our living rooms and churches. The figures of Mother Mary, Joseph and the little Christ Child in his manger with arms outspread to all mankind help us to remember why we celebrate Christmas, the day our Savior was born into the world. His birth is momentous. Angels fill the sky worshiping. A sense of peace fills our hearts and souls as we celebrate this great miracle that took place 2000 years ago in a little town far away. As the Christmas season progresses, we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany. In our manger scenes three kings travel from far countries to give homage.

But as we enter the New Year, we read a little farther in the Book of Matthew and find Jesus and His Mother and Father fleeing to Egypt at the command of the angel. Herod is angered because he cannot locate the prophesied King and commands the massacre of the little boys two years and younger in the vicinity of Jerusalem trying to eradicate one small little baby who is King of Heaven and Earth. A sense of horror now pervades as the cruel King Herod shatters the peace. As we enter the New Year, 2009, thousands of years after this horrible event, we must come face to face with the fact that we are still contending with the slaughter of Holy Innocents in abortion.

Why does this sin continue to plague us? Why does mankind continue to devalue human life? There is no greater gift than the gift of life. On New Years Day we will watch the evening news welcome the babies born on this first day of the year, see them held up in their pink and blue blankets, with sleepy eyes, tightly clenched little fists, in the arms of parents who are overcome with joy at their arrival. After the holidays, business will return to normal. Abortion centers all over this country will reopen for business as usual. Where have we gone wrong? We human beings have been given the great privilege and joy of co-creating with our God. Man and woman and Creator share in the creation of new life—another human being, the summit of the Creator’s work (CCC 343).

Maybe that is part of the problem today. We do not see ourselves as God’s greatest bodied creation or maybe not His creation at all. Maybe we see ourselves evolving from some great cosmic explosion and accidentally evolving. Maybe we see ourselves as just one more group of mammals, equal to the seals and whales and puppy dogs; or, maybe not quite as valuable as even those species. The ageless struggle for respect for human life also goes on. Our beloved and stalwart Catholic Church has always upheld this truth and will continue to do so. Her people cannot rest on the achievements of the past few years. They could be gone in a minute or a signature on a bill. The struggle is not for the young alone, it is for all ages. Some will be able to carry a sign or pray the rosary before the abortion clinic. Some will write letters to newspapers. Some will give their time and money to pro-life groups working tirelessly to turn the tide of abortion. Some will call and write their legislators and even the president of this great country, hurt and suffering from the deaths of its’ Holy Innocents.

All of these are vitally important. But, the struggle will be won by those warriors who fall to their knees asking their God for forgiveness for mankind’s sin, who pray constantly for an end to this modern day slaughter. It will be won by the men and women and children at Sunday Mass, at daily Mass, in the Eucharistic Chapel. Our religious men and women on their knees, cloistered in prayer, from morning to night, will win it. “For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." (Eph. 6:12-17)

This is the struggle that will determine our future. It will not rest on how many banks or auto companies we rescue with our trillions of dollars. We can’t be tired. We can’t despair. We can’t rely on someone else. Young and old must take up the banner of life. “With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit.” (Eph.6:18)

Baby in the Womb
by Dan Lacey