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December 26, 2021With the song of the angels still echoing in our hearts, carols still being sung, and Christmas greetings still being exchanged, we’re brought up short with today’s gospel relaying the story of the massacre of the innocent children of Bethlehem, killed because a politician, King Herod, feared a young child would usurp his power. That young child survived because his parents paid attention to a dream and escaped to Egypt. Do you imagine that they heard “the sobbing and loud lamentation of Ramah, of Rachel weeping for her children” as they crossed the border into safety? As we listen to this story, we might shake our heads at the insanity of the massacre and wonder how could someone do such a thing as to kill young, innocent children?
Yet, history has shown that such acts of violence against children continue to our own day and age – often perpetrated by people in power: six million people died in the Holocaust – one million of them children; countless children are killed through the violence of abortion; an inordinate number of Black and Brown children die at the hands of authorities meant to protect them; hundreds of grade school, high school, and college age children die as a result of gun violence in their schools because our politicians fail to enact appropriate measures that could prevent such massacres of the innocent.
Do we hear the “sobbing and loud lamentation of Ramah, of Rachel weeping for her children”? Do we understand that the innocents of Bethlehem are the innocents of our own towns, cities, villages, of our own families and communities? Do we see that the Child whom we adore during Christmas is the Christ in whom every child is created? We are all children of God, sisters, and brothers to one another in Christ. May this truth drive us to pay attention to the dream of God for peace, do what we must for justice, and live toward its fulfillment.
