Feast of the Holy Innocents: Defending our Children

 Reflection on Today's Readings, 3rd Day of Octave of the Nativity of the Lord and the Feast of the Holy Innocents, Tuesday 28th December, 2021
Texts: 1John 1:5-2:2; Psalm124:2-5.7b-8; Matthew 2:13-18
Today is the feast of the Holy Innocents. The Holy Innocents are the witnesses of the heinous crimes of evil leaders; they remind us day to day that evil leaders are still present in our world, committing their heinous crimes. They challenge us to rise and defend the weak; they challenge us to rise against evil leaders; they challenge us to vote wisely; they challenge us to vote into power only the good ones; they challenge us not to be blindfolded with money and misled to bring into power the evil ones. Such heinous crimes that led to the death of these Holy Innocents are still present in our world. Our children are more vulnerable than before; they are now held responsible for the sins they do not commit. Children are being kidnapped and made to suffer the sin of their nation. Many parents are being deprived of their joy. Those prophetic words of Jeremiah are being fulfilled in our time and nation: "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they were no more.” Today's feast calls us to pause and reflect on how to save our children. We must save them. We are to begin by changing our ways. We need to embrace Christ. It is clear in today's gospel reading that the rejection of Christ is the choice of evil. Herod rejected Christ and chose evil. Once again, to reject Christ is to choose evil. Let us embrace Christ.
Today's gospel reading tells us the story of the death of the Holy Innocents. The Holy Innocents we are celebrating, today, died in place of the Saviour, the newborn baby of Christmas. It is said, "Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the Wise Men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the Wise Men." The Holy Innocents died for our salvation. They identified with Christ in their death; they walked His path before Him. They preached Christ in their death; they foretold beforehand  His death.
The words of St. John dispel the darkness that might hang over the death of the Holy Innocents. He says, "This is the message we have heard from Jesus Christ and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all." Darkness represents the forces of evil. Hence, St. John simply tells us that the truth revealed by Jesus Christ is that in God there is no evil. This tells us that the death of the Holy Innocents is not evil because they died in God. One thing must be made clear here: it is their submission to death that is not evil; their murder is evil. In this sense, Herod committed evil by killing them, but they did no evil by submitting to death or dieing. They died to the glory of God but killed to satisfy human ego, the glorification of man. This truth is revealed by Christ because it is in Him that death glorifies God. In Adam, death is consequence of sin and separation from God but in Christ it is a means of participation in resurrection and attaining union with God.
The Holy Innocents fellowship with Jesus Christ in their death. St. John tells us that to fellowship with God is to be like Him. He says, "If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth; but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." While the Holy Innocents fellowship with God in their death, we can fellowship with God by renouncing evil. Let us renounce evil and sin that we may fellowship with God. When we fellowship with Jesus, His blood cleanses us.
Celebrating the Holy Innocents, today, tells us that the Innocents never die in vain. The death of the innocents has redemptive value; it is a beckon of new era.

O God, whom the Holy Innocents confessed and proclaimed on this day, not by speaking but by dying, grant, we pray, that the faith in you which we confess with our lips may also speak through our manner of life. Through our Lord...

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke