The Holy Innocents

Lullay, Thou little tiny Child, 
By, by, lully, lullay. Lullay, 
Thou little tiny Child. 
By, by, lully, lullay.


 O sisters, too, how may we do,
 For to preserve this day; 
This poor Youngling for whom we sing, 
By, by, lully, lullay. 


Herod the King, in his raging, 
Charged he hath this day; 
His men of might, in his own sight, 
All children young, to slay. 


Then woe is me, poor Child, for Thee,
 And ever mourn and say;
 For Thy parting, neither say nor sing, 
By, by, lully, lullay.


Today the Church remembers some of the most innocent blood ever shed, the blood of little babies who were killed by the order of King Herod the Great when he, on hearing of the birth of the Messiah, became fearful and jealous for his own power. Herod's reaction was to have every newborn boy in the vicinity of Bethlehem killed by his own soldiers, because to his reckoning any of those little boys could have been the Christ. Herod sacrificed the blood of innocent children in order that he might save his own political fortunes. In this way, Herod wasn't unlike some of our so-called "leaders" today who think it good political policy to allow for the massacre of the unborn in the name of "choice." Some of these same leaders then wonder why our society has become so prone-and in such a deadly way-to violence, especially violence aimed at children (sometimes coming, God help us, even from other children).


Some historians and archaeologists question the Scriptural account of the massacre of the Innocents, but the Roman historian and politician Macrobius records it in his Saturnalia, saying that Herod had ordered a massacre of Jews two years old and younger, and that Herod had also, as part of this order, ordered that one of his sons also be killed (apparently because he was a threat to Herod). Upon hearing this, Macrobius records that Octavian Augustus said that "it is better to be Herod's pig than his son."


It is especially apt today to pray for children who have died or who are suffering as victims of abortion, war, famine, abuse, or needless disease. Today is especially a memorial and a remembrance for them.

Matthew 2:13-18:


When the magi had departed, behold,
   the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
   “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,
   and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.”
Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night
   and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod,
   that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,
   Out of Egypt I called my son.

When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi,
   he became furious.
He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity
   two years old and under,
   in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.
Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:

   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.





 This version of The Coventry Carol is sung by the choir of the Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood, commonly called Westminster Cathedral, which is the seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster in England.

The choices people make

The question comes all the time from honest people, but especially after a terrible tragedy like the school mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut yesterday, is this: "How can a just and a loving God allow for such a terrible thing to happen?" If you are a family member of one of the slain children or adults, you might ask: "How could God let this happen to my baby?"


It would be disingenuous to say that there is an easy answer to these questions, because their isn't, but Scripture does give us an incredible piece of insight into God's way of dealing with human nature in giving us the free will choice between right and wrong (Deuteronomy 30:15-20):

"See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you this day, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you this day, that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess."

I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him; for that means life to you and length of days, that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." 

This passage is a warning by the Lord (which the Deuteronomist tells us was given though Moses) to the children of Israel to obey his commandments or face the harsh consequences of their own disobedience. God was warning the Israelites not that he was going to "kill them off" if they went their own way, but that they would bring about their own destruction in view of their own bad choices. What this important Old Testament passage is telling us today is something similar but far more simple-God has given humanity the free will to choose right and wrong, good and evil. God has shown us what good is, having done so sending his Son, the Word Incarnate into the world. Jesus Christ came into the world to redeem humanity, but he didn't come to force anyone to follow him or force people to do good or right. That choice is ours alone, and the choice we make has consequences.


Knowing this helps us understand that people have the power to make choices, even the most terrible choices. We believe that people will be held to account for their choice to rebel against the laws of God and his command to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. We believe that God loves the humanity that he created so much that he sent his Son into the world-the second person of the Trinity and the Incarnate Word-to redeem us from our own sins, our decision to make choices that lead to what the Scripture passage above calls "death and evil," to give us the ability through the redemption of the Cross to reclaim for ourselves the side of "life and good." It is this desire on the part of God from the very beginning to be reconciled with mankind which he made in his image and likeness that is what Advent and Christmas (and, for that matter, Lent, Holy Week, and Easter) are really all about.

In Newtown, Connecticut yesterday, for reasons we do not know and have no power or authority to judge, a young man chose death and evil over life and good. As public figures on all sides begin a disgraceful attempt to politicize the massacre, virtually no one is blaming the root cause that brings about all such violence in our age: A Culture of Death in Western society which not only says that the unborn and the aged and the infirm and the helpless have only the value that we as individuals assign to them, but one which glorifies violence, demeans and objectifies the human person, and perverts liberty itself. Our present culture is saturated with the glorification of sin and the public promotion and encouragement-and even promotion by the state-of the worst forms of social and human depravity, and we wonder how someone could get it into their mind to do such a thing.


When society chooses "death and evil," it is telling individuals that death and evil and all of the sins that go with them are also an acceptable personal choice. We will not see peace in our culture until we begin to choose life and good anew.


Pray for the families and the people of Newtown, Connecticut.


Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual Light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the Faithful Departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.