This feast was instituted early in our church’s history to honour the infants butchered out of the jealous rage of a dictator who feared the birth of a child, Jesus.

This year continues the horror of war, invasion, famine and natural disasters where hundreds of thousands of innocents have suffered, adults as well as children. It is appropriate that we remember and lament the suffering and death of children all over the world and honour all who die in innocence.

The jealousy that darkened the heart of Herod can also be present in our hearts if we are not careful. We may not set out to physically harm people, but our jealousy can be very subtle and very damaging both to the other and to ourselves. The idle gossip that spreads half-truths and undermines the dignity of another or claiming credit for work that is not ours are some of the subtle ways that our actions can demean the other. 

This feast does not invite us to focus on the jealousy of Herod but rather to focus on the dignity of all life and how we are called to value and cherish the life of those close to us and those people who live lives far beyond our reality.

In the first reading from the letter of St John we hear, ‘God is light and in him there is no darkness.’ Christmas is a season of light and hope. Here in the southern hemisphere, we can almost drown in the sunlight that floods into our homes from early morning to late evening. Let us pray that we be people of the light and that our living radiates light and hope to our troubled world.

Today, let our mantra be: ‘Open my being to the light of your love.’

by Anne Surtees osu