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The Martyrdom of the Holy Innocents

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Today, on the Feast of the Holy Innocents, we remember the massacre of young boys in Bethlehem by King Herod the Great in the time of Jesus. Herod orders the death of innocent children out of envy, anger, and fear. He does not want His dynasty to end and allow a new Kingdom to come about. Herod’s heart was closed to the Kingdom of God and evil only occurs when we, God’s creation, close our hearts to Him, our Creator. In His attempt to prevent the will of God, Herod kills the most innocent of God’s creations, fails in his attempt to kill Jesus, and shows the world that the will of God can be accomplished despite man’s sinfulness. 

This has always been a difficult celebration for me to understand. Why would God allow something so evil and so tragic to happen? And why would we celebrate this event? In preparing to write this reflection, I came upon a beautiful passage: “The Holy Innocents died in Christ’s stead so He could die in ours.” It was in reading this that I realized we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Innocents for the same reason and in a similar manner, that is solemn, as we celebrate Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection during Holy Week. Although God does not will evil and although evil is a result of man’s sin, God can still do His will through the evil that persists in our earthly world. We celebrate the martyrdom of the Holy Innocents because, in a profound way, during their very short lives they were able to do that for which all of us should strive: die for Christ. It is because of the Holy Innocents that we have the privilege to know, love, and serve Our Lord, Jesus Christ. The deaths of the Holy Innocents, and Herod’s ultimate failure in his attempt to kill Jesus, brings to mind the verse from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians: “O death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory”? There is no sting of death; there is no victory of Hell. Christ has already conquered death.

Important to contemplate, as well, is the fact that Jesus did not enter this world to the sound of trumpets and praise. Rather, He entered this world with only His mother and father present, in a lowly manger. Very soon after His birth, His family fled to Egypt in exile. From the beginning, His life was not easy and He and His family were faced with persecution. So what do the lives of Christ and those of the Holy Innocents tell us about our lives? They are not meant to be easy. It is inevitable that living a life for Christ will bring about persecution and hardship. But there is hope!

We hear about that hope in John’s epistle. He tells us that Christ is the Light that came into the world. In order for Him to light the darkness of our lives, we must accept Him and we must live in His truth. When we bring Christ into the darkest corners of our lives, He dispels all our darkness and we are able to live in His Light. 

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Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.

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Can We Do This?

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What a great day! It is the feast of John the Evangelist. John’s passion for the Lord is what I call “all in”. He gave his whole self to the Lord Jesus.

In the First Reading, John mentions fellowship twice. Looking up the Greek term for fellowship, we find the word koinonia. That word evoked a flashback to many years ago, a young adult group called the same. Several of our children met regularly with this group. The group was tight knit and were good friends. They did a lot of things together including attending retreats. Some weddings came from that group including one of our daughters. Why is that important? Because, it shows we are social people. We don’t do well when we isolate ourselves from other people. We learn from each other, the good and the not so good. If we have a good friend or two we can hold each other accountable. Now, before you try that, remember we are living in a time when no one likes to be told what to do. It takes a lot of love for this to work between friends. Better to deliver the message as a suggestion than as a command.

I have a feeling that John in today’s reading was pretty good at that. Perhaps you have discovered in your spiritual walk that the closer you get to God, the clearer your idea of who God is becomes. In that “awakening” you find that He whispers words to you that have great meaning. I believe that the older disciples noticed things about John that helped them grow in their love for God even though he was much younger. Remember, John was one of the three who were picked to be with Jesus in some very important times like: The Transfiguration and the Agony in the Garden. Did his brothers notice that? Of course, they did. I wonder what they thought when they saw John lay his head on Jesus’ chest at the Last Supper?

I can’t stress enough how important it is to have koinonia (fellowship). In my last fifty years of ministry I have seen people that isolate themselves get into some very serious emotional distress.

Perhaps you have noticed that John never says his name in his writings. He says, “the other disciple” or “the one that Jesus loved”. An act of great humility.

Commentaries have said that it does not mean that Jesus loved John more than the others (you would have to ask Jesus about that). But, John was the one that was “all in” and opened his heart wide open to receive God’s love the most.

Can We Do That?

Enjoy Your Merry Christmas Season!  

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Deacon Dan Schneider is a retired general manager of industrial distributors. He and his wife Vicki have been married for over 50 years. They are the parents of eight children and thirty grandchildren. He has a degree in Family Life Education from Spring Arbor University. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 2002.  He has a passion for working with engaged and married couples and his main ministry has been preparing couples for marriage.

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What Once Was Lost

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The parish where I grew up, where I made all my sacraments and where I first became a youth minister is called Holy Family Church. So, for the longest time, this Sunday’s celebration was my parish’s patronal feast day. They wouldn’t do anything crazy to mark the feast day – maybe a special blessing for families, if anything – but, for some reason, this celebration of the Sunday after Christmas, the Feast of the Holy Family, always felt extra special to me. I like to think it’s because the readings and the homily were more relatable to me as they tended to center around family life. 

Today’s Gospel from Luke is no different – the story of Jesus being lost and found in the temple. Here, the struggles of family life are very real and very apparent, even for the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I mean, what parent wouldn’t panic if their child was lost in a grocery store for five minutes, let alone lost in a different city for three days? Upon realizing that Jesus was not in the caravan, I can only imagine the anguish and worry Mary and Joseph must have felt. 

For the longest time, I’ve been reflecting on this story as the joyful mystery that we pray in the rosary, as the finding of the boy Jesus in the temple. And, yes, it is easy to picture the joy and relief that Mary and Joseph must have felt upon finding Jesus in the temple. Lately, however, I’ve been reflecting on the other side of the story – not on the finding but the losing. 

I recently went on a retreat where God didn’t feel present in those days and in that space. In fact, He felt very, very absent. I felt like I had lost Him, especially since the Lord had been so present and so abundant in His workings in the weeks leading up to my retreat. Toward the end of that retreat, I found myself begging Him to move, to show up, to do something so that this time spent with Him wouldn’t be a waste. What I didn’t realize at that time is that He was actually calling me to move instead. 

When we lose something, we go looking for it – our keys, our wallet, our phone, etc. So I can’t help but wonder if the Lord was allowing me to feel His loss so that I may ever more desire to seek Him. Something – or someone – must have been lost in order to be found again. 

Seeking became the pervading theme for the rest of my retreat and the focus of my prayer coming off of it. So it is now the theme that I share with you today – do you seek the Lord in your daily life? How do you seek Him? Are you asking Him to move without putting forth any of your own effort? I encourage you to ponder these questions in your heart as Mary did after finding Jesus in the temple. 

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Erin Madden is a Cleveland native and graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville. She is passionate about the Lord Jesus, all things college sports and telling stories and she is blessed enough to get paid for all three of her passions. You can catch her on old episodes of the Clarence & Peter Podcast on YouTube as well as follow her on Twitter@erinmadden2016.

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The Grace of Christmas

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Christmas morning, we wake to gifts under the tree, gifts nestled into stockings, and the celebration of the greatest gift of all—Jesus. God’s gifts are abundant; there is no spending limit. He does not budget His generosity. God, the Father who wants for nothing, out of pure love, bestows an abundance of gifts upon each and every one of us. His innumerable gifts include life, faith, hope, joy, and of course, love. However, the gift that stands out most during this time of the year is the gift of grace, exemplified so beautifully in the Blessed Mother. 

Grace, in essence, is the undeserved yet freely given gift of God’s Holy Spirit living within us, which moves and animates our being. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the One who knows God so perfectly, because the Spirit is God, sent as our Counselor. If we cooperate with the indwelling of the Spirit within us, if we abide in the Word and accept these beautiful gifts of God, we too will experience the mystery and magnitude of a life of grace. We merely need to look upon Mary’s fiat to understand the power of a life full of the grace of God!

Mary, on the birth of her Son, Jesus—God incarnate—kept all these things in her heart. She bestowed with an unmatched outpouring of grace at her conception, so to be born without the stain of sin was prepared to receive Jesus. From this example, one can ascertain the importance of grace necessary to prepare one’s heart to receive Jesus. However, we cannot forget nor underestimate the importance of free will and the significance of one’s willingness to cooperate with this supernatural gift. Although God, out of love for all his children, may have bestowed this gift upon Mary, yet she still needed to receive, open, and cooperate with this incredible gift. Ponder the words, “Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with you,” and consider this profound example of how we, too, can be touched by grace and carry the Lord within.

Let us wrap up our reflection with a contemplation on the workings of gift-giving. Gifts are only useful if they are, simply put—used. Left wrapped under the Christmas tree; each would remain a mystery, never accomplishing their intended purpose, perhaps even considered wasted. With the wonder and enthusiasm of a child, let us tear into the gifts of God, beholding the beauty and strength found in presents of love, faith, hope, joy, and of course, grace. With faith and wisdom like a child,  filled with uncontainable expectation, who would never leave a gift unopened, let us rejoice and receive all the gifts God has prepared for us this day!

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Allison Gingras works for WINE: Women In the New Evangelization as National WINE Steward of the Virtual Vineyard. She is a Social Media Consultant for the Diocese of Fall River and CatholicMom.com. She is a writer, speaker, and podcaster, who founded ReconciledToYou.com and developed the Stay Connected Journals for Catholic Women (OSV).   

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The views and opinions expressed in the Inspiration Daily blog are solely those of the original authors and contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Diocesan, the Diocesan staff, or other contributors to this blog.