A Reflection for the Feast of the Holy Innocents
Find today’s readings here.
“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” (Mt 2:16).
In the liturgical calendar, the 12 days of Christmas are punctured by a painful note. Amid the festivities and rejoicing over the birth of Jesus Christ, we mark today the feast of the Holy Innocents.
Scripture tells us that King Herod had learned from the magi about the birth of a new king of the Jews in Bethlehem. Troubled by this potential threat to his comfortable position and authority, he tells the magi to report back to him on the location of this royal babe so he may “pay him homage.” When Herod learns that the magi have deceived him and “departed for their country by another way,” he lashes out, ordering the massacre of all the infant boys in Bethlehem. It is a grim echo of Pharaoh’s attempt to kill the children of Israel in the Book of Exodus.
In the Catholic tradition, these massacred infants, these Holy Innocents, are considered to be the first martyrs of Jesus. In a homily, St. Augustine refers to them as “infant martyr flowers,” saying:
Blessed are you, Bethlehem in the land of Judah! You suffered the inhumanity of King Herod in the murder of your babes, and thereby have become worthy to offer to the Lord a pure host of infants. In full right do we celebrate the heavenly birthday of these children whom the world caused to be born unto an eternally blessed life rather than that from their mothers’ womb, for they attained the grace of everlasting life before the enjoyment of the present.
It is a dark indictment of our world that the first to die for Christ were wholly innocent children—infants killed because of a cruel, insecure man. Darker still that 2,000 years after our savior’s birth, our world continues to destroy innocent life for its own imagined gain.
Today though, I think of the mothers. I have not had or lost a child, but I know mothers who have. Those with greater faith than I might take some comfort in the idea of their child gaining so soon “the grace of everlasting life.” But all would have, if given the choice, asked for more “enjoyment of the present.” To a mother grieving the loss of her child, theological considerations of eternity may not be at the forefront of her thoughts.
There is a haunting carol that gives voice to their grief. “The Coventry Carol” dates back to 16th-century England and takes the form of a lullaby sung by the mothers of Bethlehem upon learning of Herod’s rage:
O sisters too, how may we do
For to preserve this day
This poor youngling for whom we sing,
“Bye bye, lully, lullay”?
Our Christmas joy is today punctured by a painful note. But that pain need not rob us of our joy, which runs much deeper than the Christmas festivity surrounding us. “Can Christian joy even exist if we ignore the cry of our brothers and sisters, the cry of the children?” Pope Francis asked in a letter to bishops on the Feast of the Holy Innocents in 2016.
The mothers of Bethlehem did not know their babies died as martyrs. We only know that in hindsight. We only know that because the baby that survived Herod’s wrath went on to live and die and rise for us all, innocents and sinners alike. And that painful, beautiful truth is the sure source of our Christmas joy.
