The Holy Innocents, then and now

While it may be hard to swallow that we thank God this day for the murdering of innocent children at the hand of King Herod's goons, we should remember that these children were indeed martyrs (of the highest degree). Although they and their families may have not known or understood what it all meant, there role is just as important as any other in our path to salvation. It is indeed even harder to put such a tragedy into words of positivity, the poet Predentius has done such a thing for us:

"All hail! ye infant martyr flowers, cut off in life's first dawning hours: As rosebuds snapped in tempest strife, When Herod sought your Savior's life."

But these martyr babes are not the only Holy Innocents that we should be praying for! Just this week a nine year old girl in Indiana was brutally murdered by a neighbor, children die on the streets everyday without home, food, even parents, and in this time of great indifference the death toll of "unwanted" children climbs as we become more and more desensitized to the horrors of abortion.

But it is not only them we should pray for, but also their slayers. It is hard to fathom that we would want grace and peace to come upon them, but as Christians we are commanded such. There are areas that we choose not to forgive in, and this is one. We should be praying for the outright mentally disturbed man who ended this little girl's life, we should be praying for those who subject their children to the horrors of life on the streets, and most assuredly we should be praying and fasting for those who make the murder of children their business. It also slips our minds that we should be praying and fasting for the women and men who have utilized these methods to end the life of their child, assuring them that they are forgiven, and that forgiveness is unconditional.



May the souls of the faithful departed by the mercy of God, Rest in peace.