Today, the Church honors the memory of the little children who were massacred by the order of King Herod. These Holy Innocents are venerated as the patron saints of babies. If it was out of envy and hatred that Herod killed these countless innocent children, God glorified them in Heaven by granting them the martyr’s crown. They are honored by the angels and saints because they died not only for Christ but instead of Christ. Their martyrdom became a baptism that earned them divine life.
In the present world, Herod’s dreadful act draws attention to an even more heinous crime of abortion being committed worldwide today. The Holy Innocents are few in comparison to the genocide and abortion of our day. The Holy Catholic Church, highlighting this issue, teaches us that from the moment of conception, life must be guarded with the greatest care. The commemoration of the martyrdom of these innocent children challenges us to protect and defend the sacredness of life.
The Catholic Church venerates these children as martyrs (flores martyrum); they are the first buds of the Church killed by the frost of persecution; they died not only for Christ, but in his stead.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/holy-innocents-667
Prayer
O God, whom the Holy Innocents confessed and proclaimed on this day, not by speaking but by dying, grant, we pray, that the faith in your which we confess with our lips may also speak through our manner of life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.
Prepared and updated by:
Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Penampang, Sabah Malaysia.
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