The Feast of the Holy Innocent

1 Jn 1:5-2:2, Mt. 2:13-18. Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Innocents. The Holy innocents were the young infants of the town of Bethlehem, who were killed by the order of king Herod, in his futile effort to try to destroy the coming Messiah and King, as written in today's Gospel. This infants were the victims of human greed, ego and pride, the outcome of man’s attachment to worldly glory and the temptations of the world. We may wondered why God allowed those infants in Bethlehem to be killed. Surely, He could have intervened and prevented the infants from being killed but this is where we need to understand that, the cause of this sad tragedy, was our attachments to sin and our refusal to obey God’s will.

God gave us free will and the wisdom to discern His will. Yet, by our own conscious choice and abuse of our freedom, we chose to be selfish and to entertain the wicked temptations which Satan put in our place, as obstacles in our way towards the Lord. Therefore, today as we celebrate this Feast, we are called to reflect on our vulnerabilities to the temptations of pride and greed in our own lives as Herod had done. Unless we consciously choose to resist those temptations, it is likely that we will cause sufferings and pains to others just as king Herod had done to the innocent infants of Bethlehem, all to satisfy his pride.

May the Lord turn our hearts towards God and may we follow the selfless example of Christ in everything we say, act and do, so that from now on, we may no longer be living in sin, but in the grace of God! Amen!! Good morning and have a glorious day!!!