Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the male infants and little boys two years and younger slaughtered by Herod, who felt threatened when he heard from the Magi that, Jesus, the king of the Jews, was born in Bethlehem. When the magi did not return to Herod to let him know where to find Jesus so he, too, "could do him homage" (Mt 2:9), Herod pursued other actions in his determination to destroy Jesus.
In today's Gospel, Matthew 2: 13-18, Joseph is warned of Herod's intentions. An "angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said 'Rise, take the child and and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.'" Joseph followed the angel's suggestions!
In our lives, we have choices: 1) to follow the angels' suggestions in our lives and trust God's Presence to keep us safe from Satan's snares or 2) to get carried away by fear, anger, jealousy and an insatiable thirst for power and control and "wealth" of any kind--anything or anyone in our way is then destroyed in some way: infants in the womb, men and women and children seeking asylum from violence in their own countries, men and women of integrity threatening another's corruption deception and unjust pursuits, persons in the way of a romantic relationship outside of marriage, and so on!
Fear can drive us to do horrible things, including murdering children, killing our spouse, destroying anything or anyone who gets in our way of staying in control, holding on to power, gaining wealth and prestige--pursuing idols that we are convinced we must have.
Lord, open my eyes to what might be motivating me to do what I do! Open my eyes to your Presence, my ears to the voice of the Spirit, my heart to love you and my will to follow you! May I have the courage to examine my motivations and recognize negative emotions driving me to act irrationally!
No comments:
Post a Comment