12/28/2011 – homily for the feast of the Holy Innocents – Matt 2:13-18 - Wednesday

       Right after we celebrate Christmas, our Church recognizes 3 feast days in a row, representing the people from different walks of life who worship & honor Jesus at his birth.  The day after Christmas is the feast of St. Stephen, a martyr in the early Church whom we can see as representing all who have sacrificed and given their lives for our faith.  Next, we have the feast of John the Evangelist, who is representative of all the Church leaders, both laity and ordained, who work tirelessly for our faith.  Today, we celebrate & honor the Holy Innocents, children who were massacred by King Herod in Bethlehem when he had heard of Jesus' birth.  Martyrs, church leaders, and children: they all honor Jesus at his birth. Two of these feasts recognize those who died for our faith, showing us how the shadow of the cross, the sacrifice Christ made for our salvation, is an essential part of the message we hear this Christmas season.

         As Matthew tells us about the massacre of the holy innocents as part of  the story of the Magi, he quotes the prophet Jeremiah: “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.”  Jeremiah portrays Rachel, the wife of Jacob, the patriarch of the people of Israel, as weeping at the place where the Israelites were herded together by the conquering Assyrians for their march into the Babylonian captivity. As Rachel is imagined weeping for her people forced into exile, as the parents of the children massacred at Bethlehem weep for their loss, what do we have to weep for today in our modern world?  We see children & families suffering and torn apart by violence, or by alcohol and drug abuse; we see innocents killed by abortion; we see many in our world and in our own society go to bed hungry for lack of food to eat.  We certainly have a lot to weep for ourselves. 

         Yet, yet in the midst of this weeping, he hear a message of hope and liberation to the people of Israel forced into exile.  Herod's actions were brutle and painful, but they weren't the final word.  God gives us hope in the birth of Christ.  Through Jesus’ birth into our world, God proclaims his kingdom and promises us salvation.  How are we called to help proclaim this kingdom that is here already yet is still not fulfilled?