HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS, MARTYRS

HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS, MARTYRS

THEME: The massacre of the innocents.

BY: Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA

READINGS OF THE DAY
1 John 1:5-2:2
Psalm 123:2-5,7-8
Matthew 2:13-18

LITURGICAL COLOUR
RED

INTRODUCTION
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Innocents, also known as the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem or the Martyrs of Bethlehem, in which the innocent children of Bethlehem were massacred by the forces of King Herod the Great, the then ruler over the land, in his futile pursuit and effort to destroy the fledgling Messiah, prophesied to be born in the city of David, Bethlehem of Judea.

FROM OUR FIRST READING
In today’s first reading, we find that very striking statement about God, ‘God is light; there is no darkness in him at all’. Elsewhere, in this same letter, the author says that ‘God is love’. We are being told that God is the light of love. In God there is none of the darkness associated with the absence of love. God sent his Son into the world to reveal God as light, as the light of love. Christmas, which celebrates the birth of Jesus, is very much the feast of light, the feast of the light of God’s love as expressed in a human life, the life of Jesus.

FROM OUR GOSPEL READING
In our Gospel passage this morning, we hear about King Herod who got to know about the coming of the Messiah through the Three Magi or the Three Wise Men who came to visit and pay homage to Him, saw this Messiah as a great threat to his rule as king, and hence he likely wanted to remove this threat as immediately and quickly as possible, firstly by pretending to want to pay homage to this new King also, and when the Three Magi, warned by the Angel of God of Herod’s true intentions, did not return back to him, hence, in his desperation, he committed a truly great sin in murdering the young and innocent children, which were without blame, and were caught in the events that unfolded then. They were killed amidst Herod’s futile effort to secure his reign and power.

CONCLUSION
The feast of the Holy Innocents reminds us that far too many innocent lives have been and, indeed, are being slaughtered. The sobbing and loud lamenting at the loss of innocent life that is referred to at the end of the gospel reading is all too familiar to our ears today. Yet the forces for life that have been released into the world through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus remain stronger than the forces of death. As baptized believers we can each make those forces for life, that Spirit of life, tangible and visible in the way we live and relate to others.
Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, Holy Martyrs, pray for us.

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