Holy Innocents/Holy Family

Today (Dec 28) is the feast of the Holy Innocents and of the Holy Family. I feel as if these two closely tie together, especially in today’s society.

To summarize, we celebrate all the baby boys who died at Herod’s word in Matthew 2:16-18. Herod was scared of the infant Jesus after hearing the Wise Men talk about how He was to be King. As all others, they assumed Christ’s reign would be an earthly one. Hence, out of greed and convenience, Herod had all baby boys two and under murdered, in an attempt to kill Jesus. Luckily, an angel had appeared to St. Joseph in a dream and told him to take Jesus and Mary away from Bethlehem.

The Holy Family is Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Jesus was the perfect child. God made man, He obeyed His parents at all times, even in the smallest and most insignificant of things. Mary was the perfect mother and a role model for all women. Joseph was an incredible foster father and obviously loved Mary and Jesus very much. He was not God and he did not have the privilege of being immaculately conceived. However, he allowed God to work in his life to bring for the salvation of humanity.

In today’s time, we have the “Holy Innocents” because we lack the “Holy Family.” Family values are overlooked and discarded in an attempt to be modern and in the name of human rights. Because women refuse to take Mary as a role model (seriously…who’s going to believe that she’s pregnant and still a virgin? Penalty for such disregard for morality was death back then, so her undertaking was no easy task), we face the deaths of millions of innocent voices lost to earth for eternity. Because men refuse to be responsible fathers, millions of babies die. Because families do not strive for unity, we are losing the definition of marriage and family. We are having a modern “Holy Innocents” where thousands are lost daily to the horrors of abortion.

Thus, to fight for OUR rights and for the rights of those who have no choice, we must ultimately be an example. We must strive to imitate the Holy Family in all aspects of our lives so that we can influence others and try to prevent the continuation of the Holy Innocents. In the end, people don’t want cheap talk. They want you to SHOW them. So SHOW them and love all with every fiber of your being.