Holy Innocents
One
The Slaughter of the Israelite Infants
We usually celebrate the Feast of the Holy Innocents, those children killed by King Herod on December 28th but it got bumped by the Feast of the Holy Family so we reflect on them today.
Moses was the first great leader of the nation of Israel. Before that, the Israelites were just slaves 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 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 a lifestyle, 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 founded the nation 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.
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 didn’t want to give up his control, his lifestyle. And that meant a lot of babies had to die.
Three
Abortion
And, of course, that leads us to today. The Supreme Court removed the federal constitutional protection for abortion, and that decision returned authority to the states to restrict or regulate abortion. Many states have total or near-total bans on abortion. Some states restrict abortion. Around 25 states have state laws or constitutional protections ensuring abortion access.
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 too often, neither do we.
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. And we refuse to have children, so we can keep our lives on their petty little schedules? So we can stick to our unimaginative little plans?
Five
Give Up Control
All through Advent, we reflected on Christ as 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. Gifts that will lead you to much greater joy than you could ever have planned out on your own.
Christ wants to come to you in greater and greater ways…To receive Him, we must surrender our plans unconditionally to Him because His are infinitely better than ours.
“Lord, what I want is good but narrow. What you want is wide and better. Please give me the courage and love to want your plans and not mine. 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.”