28th of December

Gospel text

(Mt 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.

The Application

My God, how can you afford all this? What suffering for you, to see so many of your children perish because of the unnecessary fear and stupidity of men? Unfortunately, you are still suffering today, because of our silences, and because of our fears and our stupidity. The evil one provokes in our hearts this fear of the other, fear of the difference, fear of danger, without being able to verify or analyse them. Free us Lord from our fears that destroy us unjustly, very often in the name of good. And, forgive us sinners.

Joseph the righteous, the adoptive father will listen to your word and take his child, run to another region, without doing any harm to others. Help us, Lord, to listen to you and to be faithful to your word.

The way you propose to us is always right and good. Fortunately, the Magi followed your advice and took a different path. Leaving the known path is a great risk. Help us, Lord, to take risks in our lives, with strangers, the unexpected, etc.

Action of the day: Act in freedom, not in fear.

“Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt”

Fr. Joan Pere PULIDO i Gutiérrez

(Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Spain)

Today, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Innocents, martyrs. Embedded within the Christmas celebrations, we cannot ignore the message the liturgy wants to convey to us to define with two clear accents, and even more, the good news of the birth of Jesus. In the first place, St. Joseph's predisposition in God's design for our salvation, by accepting God's will. And, at the same time, the evil, the injustice we often find in our life, determined in this case by the martyrdom of those innocent infants. All this requires a personal and social attitude and response.

St. Joseph offers us a very clear and responsive testimony to God's call. We can, thus, identify ourselves with him when we are to take decisions, from our own faith, in difficult moments of our life: “Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt” (Mt 2:14).

Our faith in God entails our own life. It wakes us up, that is, makes us fully alert to those things happening around us, because —quite often— it is where God speaks to us. He makes us take the child and his mother, i.e., God becomes closer, our travel companion, and He strengthens our faith, hope and charity. And He makes us leave at night for Egypt, i.e. He invites us not to be afraid of our own life, which, more often than not, is full of shadows too difficult to illuminate.

Today, those infants martyrs also have specific names in other infants, youngsters, old people, immigrants, ailing persons... requesting the response of our charity. Saint John Paul II told us: “In our own time, there are so many needs which demand a compassionate response from Christians. Now is the time for a new "creativity" in charity, not only by ensuring that help is effective but also by "getting close" to those who suffer.”

Let us hope that God Infant's clear and strong new light fills up our lives and reaffirm our faith, our hope and our charity.