REFLECTIONS ON THE WORD – 12/28/21 (Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs)

Matthew 2:16

16Then 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. 

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Blessed Feast Day of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs! In our feast day today, we remember the infants and children who were massacred because of the command of King Herod. Why did he kill them? King Herod was jealous and envious that there was a greater King than him who was born, our Savior Jesus. Out of his pride, he wanted to kill Jesus Christ, so he would remain the king. When the wise men did not come back to him, he decided to kill all male children who were two years old or under to make sure that Jesus would die, and we knew that he failed. Why did Jesus allow the deaths of the children? One reason is to show that a child-like humility will lead us to accept the sufferings in our lives for us to be glorified in heaven like the first martyrs. 

Jesus is calling us to practice spiritual martyrdom by embracing our sufferings and offering it to God. And, that includes the sufferings we experience from other people. But, what do we do when we are opposed by others and worse, when they commit horrible acts against us? For some of us, we choose to be angry towards them. We may think of cursing them and doing bad things to them as well. We may feel glad when they are having troubles in their lives. Why do we do this? Because of our wounds, we don't want to be humiliated, and we may think that dwelling on our anger is the right solution. We may not see that by practicing humility and by bearing the faults of others, we can be holy and enter God's kingdom. When we dwell on our anger and pride, we will be spiritually dead like King Herod. We will fall to despair because the temptations and the problems we experience will be too overwhelming for us. 

Our Lord is inviting us to pray for the grace of humility and for the strength to endure these trials. Bearing the cross that He gives to us out of love for Him is pleasing to Him. May we praise the Lord for granting us the graces to persevere in our sufferings and the opportunity to imitate the holy innocents. May we also forgive those who commit sin against us, for it is through forgiveness that we can be healed of our wounds by God's grace. When we accept this gift of spiritual martyrdom, we will be witnesses of our Christian faith, not just in out words, but in our actions. Even if we receive many humiliations, let's not fall to despair because we will be victorious, and our rewards are awaiting us in heaven.

Amen +

 

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, be with us always until the hour of our death. Amen. +

 

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +  

Reflection by: Dominic