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| “Massacre of the Innocents” by Valerio Castello, 1650s |
Reading 1: 1 John 1:5—2:2
Beloved:
This is the message that we
have heard from Jesus Christ
and proclaim to you:
God is light, and in him
there is no darkness at all.
If we say, “We have fellowship
with him,”
while we continue to walk in
darkness,
we lie and do not act in
truth.
But if we walk in the light
as he is in the light,
then we have fellowship with
one another,
and the Blood of his Son
Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
If we say, “We are without
sin,”
we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us.
If we acknowledge our sins,
he is faithful and just
and will forgive our sins and
cleanse us from every wrongdoing.
If we say, “We have not
sinned,” we make him a liar,
and his word is not in us.
My children, I am writing
this to you
so that you may not commit
sin.
But if anyone does sin, we
have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous
one.
He is expiation for our sins,
and not for our sins only but
for those of the whole world.
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Commentary on 1 Jn 1:5—2:2
We are given, in this selection, a
foundational scripture passage upon which the sacrament of reconciliation
rests. The logic St. John uses flows nicely: Jesus, the Christ, is light. When
we sin we walk in darkness. When we admit our sin, the Lord who is “expiation
for our sins,” brings us back into the light. If we try to deceive
ourselves, saying we are not sinful, we fall, and in a sense make Jesus’
sacrifice meaningless.
“Light is to be understood here as
truth and goodness; darkness here is error and depravity (cf. John 3:19-21; 17:17; Ephesians 5:8). To walk
in light or darkness is to live according to truth or error, not merely
intellectual but moral as well. Fellowship with God and with one another
consists in a life according to the truth as found in God and in Christ.” Then
for v. 8-10: "Denial of the condition of sin is self-deception and even
contradictory of divine revelation; there is also the continual possibility of
sin's recurrence. Forgiveness and deliverance from sin through Christ are
assured through acknowledgment of them and repentance.” [4] The
final verses of this selection profess the Trinity as One God: “we have an
Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.”
CCC: 1 Jn 1:5 214; 1 Jn
1:6 2470; 1 Jn
1:7-2:2 2631; 1 Jn
1:8-10 827; 1 Jn
1:8-9 1847; 1 Jn
1:8 1425; 1 Jn
1:10 2147;1 Jn
2:1-2 1460; 1 Jn
2:1 519,
692, 2634; 1 Jn 2:2 605,
606
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 124:2-3, 4-5, 7cd-8
R. (7) Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the
fowler’s snare.
Had not the LORD been with
us—
When men rose up against us,
then would they have
swallowed us alive,
When their fury was inflamed against
us.
R. Our soul has been
rescued like a bird from the fowler’s snare.
Then would the waters have
overwhelmed us;
The torrent would have swept
over us;
over us then would have swept
the raging waters.
R. Our soul has been
rescued like a bird from the fowler’s snare.
Broken was the snare,
and we were freed.
Our help is in the name of
the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
R. Our soul has been
rescued like a bird from the fowler’s snare.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 124:2-3, 4-5, 7cd-8
The psalm is one of thanksgiving to
the Lord for his gift of salvation: salvation from physical enemies and
salvation from nature’s fury. The song thanks God who rescues us if we but
reach out to him.
CCC: Ps 124:8 287
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Gospel: 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
When Herod realized that he
had been deceived by the magi,
he became furious.
He ordered the massacre of
all the boys in Bethlehem
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.
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Commentary on Matthew 2:13-18
St. Matthew provides the story of
the slaughter of the innocent children of Bethlehem. We are told how Herod, in
his frustration at being deceived by the magi, sends troops to kill all the
male children under the age of two. We are also reminded that this event, and
the warning received by Joseph to take the infant Jesus to Egypt, were both
predicted in scripture.
In this ironic twist, the saga of
Moses is replayed in an inverse way. A slaughter of innocents preceded his
advent, and the trek to Egypt by the Holy Family recalls the exodus event now
relived by the Savior. “The fulfillment citation is taken from Hosea 11:1. Israel,
God's son, was called out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus; Jesus, the Son of
God, will similarly be called out of that land in a new exodus. The father-son
relationship between God and the nation is set in a higher key. Here the son is
not a group adopted as 'son of God,' but the child who, as conceived by the
Holy Spirit, stands in unique relation to God. He is son of David and of
Abraham, of Mary and of Joseph, but, above all, of God.” [5] The passage concludes with a quote
of Jeremiah
31:15 in which Rachel (wife of the patriarch Jacob) is weeping for
her descendants taken into exile at the time of the Assyrian invasion (586 BC).
Tradition holds her lament was so profound it was heard for miles. St. Matthew
uses this story to depict Bethlehem as the new city of sorrow.[6]
-------------------------------------------
Reflection:
In this feast day we remember
the innocent lives of the first martyrs for Christ. St. Matthew
describes how Herod, in great fear of losing his kingship, commits the sin of pharaoh,
murdering innocent babes. In doing so, he turned his back on the one who could
assure him a kingship eternal and in peace.
The current world-wide
assault on the sanctity of life brings this story into sharp focus. There is a great danger facing mankind, and
secular leadership already stands at the precipice of a very slippery slope
(some say they are already hurtling toward the pit). When this Gospel story of infanticide is told
we immediately think of the struggle between the opponents of life and those
who find life sacred. This debate is not
just about abortion. It has truly reached into our homes and touches each one
of us. If we take the position that an
embryo is not a human life until the fetus draws breath and is born, all manner
of moral issues are brought into contention – not just the most recent decision to allow human
embryos to be destroyed in the name of stem cell research, but the entire idea
that human life has value at all is placed in question.
In the United States: in Oregon
we already see the path this lack of respect for human life can take. Not only does Oregon allow doctor-assisted
suicide, but its state sponsored medical coverage has placed a dollar value on
a person’s life. Using a formula that
must have been inspired by Herod himself, a person’s quality of life is
evaluated before certain types of life-saving medical procedures will be
authorized. If, under the formula, an
expensive procedure like hip replacement is requested by a person who may only
have a few years left in their expected life, it will be rejected. The state considers the expenditure wasted
because that person may only be made marginally more comfortable for an
anticipated short period of time.
It is not a large leap from
the destruction of embryos and the devaluing of human life to
government-sponsored pregnancy in which the embryos are harvested for research
(while the government did not sponsor the pregnancy per se, Planned Parenthood
seems to have assumed the role of “parts broker” in this scenario). Or to allow
children who are lobotomized in the womb or manipulated outside the womb in a
lab to be born without any possibility of intellect, so their organs may be
harvested – same principle as the destruction of embryos for stem cell research,
just taken to the next step. They would,
after all, not really be people.
Today also, we join with our
Holy Father, Pope Francis, in praying for those innocents dying daily in the
Northern Africa and the Middle East, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt where radical
Muslims are waging a war on all Christians.
When we think about Herod’s
heinous act we should ask those infant martyrs to pray for us that we might
continue the fight for the sanctity of life in all its phases. With God all things are possible; perhaps
with enough of our prayers some of those who care only for themselves may be
brought to the light of understanding.
Pax
[1]
The picture is “Massacre of the Innocents” by Valerio Castello, 1650s.
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the
psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is
for private use only.
[4]
See NAB footnote on 1 John 1:1-5.
[5]
See NAB footnote on Matthew 2:15.
[6]
The Gospel of Matthew, © 2010 Curtis Mitch and Edward Sri, Baker Academic,
Grand Rapids, MI, p. 57.
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