The Feast of the Holy Innocents

Never part of the Church year that was helpful to Hallmark greeting cards, or Madison Avenue marketing campaigns, it was nonetheless a real part of the Christmas Season for many ages.  It's a reminder that real religion is not the pie-in-the-sky fantasy land that so many critics suggest.  This year, unfortunately,  we've been forced to confront this forgotten part of Christmas through the horror of Newtown.  Truth be told, we should deal with it every year, for each day and each year, someone in the world experiences the same loss, the same sorrow, the same tragedy.  The media simply don't dwell on it and make it headline news.  So for those lost in Newtown, for all the innocents lost to the evils that men and women do, and for the grieving sorrow of those left behind, a chance to reflect and pray.

"Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not."

King James Version