The Holy Innocents "The Church has venerated these Innocents as martyrs since the first centuries.

 

The Holy Innocents

"The Church has venerated these Innocents as martyrs since the first centuries. Since they lost their lives shortly after the coming of Christ into the world, their memory is remembered close to the celebration of Christmas. At the wish of Pope Pius V, this celebration was elevated to a liturgical Feast. Prudentius, a poet of the 4th century, defined these Innocents - in the Epiphany hymn of the “Liber cathemerinòn” - as "flores martyrum", flowers of the martyrs, "who became fresh buds because of the persecutor of Jesus Christ". The holy Bishop of Carthage, Dom Quodvultdeus, said in a sermon: "These children, without knowing it, died for Christ, while their parents wept for the loss of their martyrs. Thus Christ made his witnesses those who did not yet speak". And he continues: "O wonderful gift of grace! What merits do these children have, who became victors? They could not even speak yet and they were already professing their faith in Christ! They were not capable of facing a fight, because they could barely move their limbs! Yet, they triumphantly carried the palm of victory! "In short, the Holy Innocents are a small part of the army of martyrs who gave and continue to give testimony, with their blood, of their belonging to Christ; these pure creatures wrote the first page of the long list of Christian martyrs" (https://www.vaticannews.va/pt/santo-do-dia/12/28/ss--inocentes--martires.html). Well, in these children we could already find the sign of the cross of the Savior, of the Child Jesus. But at Christmas, with this painful reflection? Precisely at Christmas, where one should not seek any other form of peace than that which comes from the testimony of the lives of innocents, from the self-giving made by the disciples, from placing oneself absolutely at the disposal of the Lord's will, in the likeness of Jesus. Being a disciple means not fearing the cross, the possibility of shedding one's own blood for Christ, so that His Kingdom of justice, peace, love and truth may be established. The disciple must not be fooled by the reality of the world, which is contrary to the reality embraced by Jesus. The world wants to remain in darkness, in pride, in the illusion of power, in the manipulation and destruction of human dignity. It is the world of fear, including fear of that simple and humble Child of Nazareth. This same world fears a child who came with the vocation to reign, but not in the world's way. On the contrary, His way of reigning is about service, the transformation of hearts, the discovery of oneself, of God and of nature. He was feared because the powerful of this world felt threatened. So they went into inhuman combat. Many bear witness to Christ without yet having full knowledge of this Truth. This action of Herod reveals his cruelty, even though no other sources mention it. Only the Gospel, to date, is a reliable source about the death of these children two years old and under. The author points out that Jesus is the New Moses, who will establish the New People of God. Citing this persecution, he forces Jesus to go to Egypt to fulfill what is written in Hosea 11:1: "Out of Egypt I called my son." With this, we have information about Jesus, both his condition as the New Moses, persecuted but victorious, and his condition as the son of God. It is, therefore, in Jesus that we have the liberating fulfillment of the prophecies of the people of God, as well as the manifestation of the Son of God as the One who goes beyond Moses, being the All that the Father has to say to Israel and to all nations. Just as the powerful did to the innocent (recalling here the massacre of Israelite children by the Pharaoh in Egypt: Exodus 1:15-22) they continue to do so today; millions of children are aborted each year; and thousands die of hunger. The struggle for power, for physical beauty, for success, for fame, for a strong name, for disordered pleasure, and ultimately for oneself, allows some to dominate others, to manipulate, enslave and kill the innocent. This means that the struggle against Christ remains strong. The use of power over the innocent is tyranny, mental disorder, imbalance, madness and affiliation with Satan. Power for power’s sake is the ENEMY of Christ. Whoever lives it this way is an antichrist. Christmas tells us that we must have courage, embrace the cross and follow the Word made flesh. In the environment of the baby God there were already signs of the end of his existence among us: THE SWEATING BANDS (he was wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in the tomb); THE MANGER (wood, sign of the cross); IN THE MANGER (as food, sign of the Eucharist); BEING A CHILD (sign that the mission is under the free action of the man of faith, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit); THE SHEPHERDS (sign of the thieves beside the cross); THE DEATH OF THE INNOCENTS (a sign of the persecution, suffering and martyrdom of the Church). The martyrs are the little ones of Jesus, those who welcomed Him absolutely or, even without knowing what was in the shadows of persecution, poured out the totality of their lives for the sake of the Savior.