Thursday,
December 28, 2017
Holy Innocents,
Martyrs 1st Reading:
1 Jn 1:5—2:2
Gospel:
Matthew 2:13-18
After the wise men had left, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you for Herod will soon be looking for the child in order to kill him.”
Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left that night for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. In this way, what the Lord had said through the prophet was fulfilled: I called my son out of Egypt.
When Herod found out that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was furious. He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its neighborhood who were two years old or under. This was done in line with what he had learned from the wise men about the time when the star appeared.
In this way, what the prophet Jeremiah had said was fulfilled: A cry is heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation: Rachel weeps for her children. She refuses to be comforted, for they are no more.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The classic story of a madman who razed the whole house to kill a mouse comes alive on Holy Innocents’ Day today. The disparity between the position of Herod who was dressed in kingly robes and that of the child Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes made Herod appear like this madman. Herod did something very close to what this man did. To make sure the child Jesus was dead, he ordered the killing of all boys in Bethlehem and its neighborhood aged two years old or under.
Herod’s madness sprang from his misunderstanding that Jesus would be a political savior. Because he was attached to earthly power, the Messiah was a big threat to him. From the positive side, the story of Herod illustrates how much power is inherent in the powerless. A child like Jesus born in a manger was too powerless to do Herod any harm. With the same powerlessness however Herod was pushed to his wit’s end to give the irrational order of killing all the innocent children of Bethlehem.
Today, the powerless continues to threaten the powerful. Who is afraid of a poor country like the Philippines? Some first-world countries are. We are a threat. Because of our fast growing population we compete with them in the consumption of world resources. That is why the family in the Philippines is under attack. After some successes with the RH Bill that is now a law in our country, they are crafting a more devastating divorce bill disguised as marriage dissolution bill. A gay marriage law is also round the bend. They aren’t just burning the whole house to kill the mouse but the whole country! – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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