Holy Innocents
One
The Slaughter of the Israelite Infants
Moses was the first great leader of the nation of Israel. He’s really the one who formed the race of Israelites into a people, into an autonomous community. Before that, the Israelites were just an ethnic group living under Egyptian rule. But there were so many of them that the Egyptians started to get nervous. They said, “Hey, this is our country! And these Israelites are all over the place. We’d better do something about this, or they’re going to take over.”
They didn’t want the Israelites to take over. They didn’t want to lose control. So the Egyptians decreed that when an Israelite boy was born, he should be drowned in the Nile River. That’s a pretty extreme move, to slaughter a bunch of babies, just so you can maintain control. But it’s a move that will be made again. And again.
Two
The Slaughter of the Innocents
Moses was the one who first formed the people of Israel. Christ is the one who founded the Church. In Moses’ infancy, there was an order to slaughter all the male children. The same thing happened in Christ’s infancy.
You remember the story, after King Herod finds out from the Wise Men that a great King is to be born, he sends out a decree: every male child under two years old in the region was to be slaughtered. Such a horrible, frightful thing. A return to the hideous butchery of Egypt.
And why was it done? For the same reason, it was done in Egypt. The Egyptians didn’t want the Israelites to take over. And Herod didn’t want any new King to take over.
Herod, like the Egyptians, didn’t want to give up his power. Didn’t want to give up his supremacy. He didn’t want to give up his control. And that meant a lot of babies had to die.
Three
Abortion
And, of course, that leads us to today. Yes, we’ve gotten Roe vs. Wade overturned but that’s just putting it back into the hands of the states. And what are the states doing? They’re codifying abortion rights. The people of those states the American people, including a ton of Christians, a ton of self-identified Catholics, they’re saying that they want abortion. They want to reserve the right to have their children slaughtered. Why? Why on earth?
For the same reason. Because when you have a child, it means the end of you living your life the way you want. It means all your plans have to be perpetually adjusted, revised, and even sacrificed. When you have a child, it means a massive loss of control over your own life. And people don’t want to lose control. Just like the Egyptians didn’t. Just like Herod didn’t. And they’re willing to have their children killed, they want the right to have their children killed, so they can stay in charge of their own life.
Four
The Surprising Goods Lost
People don’t realize it, but when you try to keep control, you are actually destroying God’s greatest blessings. Think what would have happened if the Egyptians had succeeded in having baby Moses drowned. How would the Israelites have gotten out of Egypt? How would they have made it to the promised land? Who would have given them, and through them the world, the Ten Commandments, that supreme natural articulation of the path to happiness?
Even more horrifying to think of: what if Herod’s soldiers had gotten their monstrous hands on the infant Jesus? The baby was the salvation of the World, humanity’s only hope, and they were trying to kill Him! Kill the one who not only could show us the path to happiness, but give us the grace to follow it.
And our own children! What blessings our own children are! The hope of the world. The future of the Church. Every child, a unique reflection of God’s image, the like of which has never been before, and will never be again. Every child, an adventure that challenges and enlarges the soul like nothing else possibly can. Our children are the only time God’s image fuses with our image. Our children are the only thing we can make that we can also take with us to Heaven.
And we want to destroy this, to destroy them so we can keep our lives on their petty little schedules? So we can stick to our unimaginative little plans? Heaven help us! Heaven forbid that we throw away God’s greatest gifts, gifts that can save us from the asphyxiating narrowness of our own ideas about what life should be. Heaven save us from the urge to stay in control.
Five
Give Up Control
Christ is coming. During Advent, He’s an unborn child. And an unborn child represents God’s surprising gifts, which always throw all our plans into disarray. They always signify a loss of control, if we are grateful and magnanimous enough to accept them.
Christ is the ultimate surprising gift. When you accept Him, you’re accepting every inconvenient and challenging situation He chooses to throw your way. Because you know that those situations represent the most magnificent gifts. The gifts that will lead you to greater joy than you could ever have imagined. Gifts that will lead you to much greater joy than you could ever have planned out on your own.
To prepare for Christ’s coming, we have to say, “Lord, I thank you in advance for the surprising gifts you have in store for me. I know they’ll be challenging, and disorienting, but I know that my happiness lies in accepting them. Please never let me reject what you have planned for me out of a perverse desire to remain in control over my own life. Amen.”