It was in the Grotto of Saint Joseph that the community of Bethlehem gathered to celebrate the feast of the Holy Innocents.
Traditionally, it is the Custodial Vicar who presides over this Mass, so assisted by the Brother Guardian of the Nativity, Fra Ricardo Bustos, and other priests and friars from Nazareth and Ein Karem, it was Fra Dobromir Jasztal who preached the homily.
While we are still breathing the atmosphere of Christmas and still basking in the joy of Jesus’ birth, after the martyrdom of Saint Stephen, the liturgy invites us now to commemorate the martyrdom of the Holy Innocents.
Why did God save only Jesus and not all the children of Bethlehem? Why did he warn only Joseph to bring Jesus to a safe place? Is it possible that God is unjust? According to our own logic, God could have eliminated Herod.
But our logic, human logic, is not God’s logic. With Jesus’ birth, God’s logic is revealed. Jesus, knowing that this logic is difficult to understand, said a short time before his death, “Blessed is he who is not scandalized because of me.”
While the death of Jesus on the cross takes on its full meaning in the Resurrection, are we able to believe that the blood of little ones, innocent blood, is precious and has value in the eyes of God? Are we able to believe in this logic and especially to accept it in our lives?
Herod was cruel, but above all he wanted to kill Jesus because he understood that Jesus’ existence would ruin his own plans. And we ourselves—do we not sometimes want to get rid of what keeps us from doing what we want?
By the intercession of the Holy Innocents, let us pray, rather, that we become able to accept what stands in our way. Let us pray, not to judge God’s actions, but to see how in his hands suffering produces fruit and life in abundance, as Jesus promised—was the substance of Fra Dobromir’s comments.
After Mass, the friars remained for the daily procession in the grotto and were then invited to lunch by Fra Ricardo.
After fraternal time together, the friars reassembled in the crypt to sing Vespers, during which the altar of the Innocents was censed.
May the spilled blood of the innocents of today be received by the Lord and transformed into new life and a source of peace for the world.
Traditionally, it is the Custodial Vicar who presides over this Mass, so assisted by the Brother Guardian of the Nativity, Fra Ricardo Bustos, and other priests and friars from Nazareth and Ein Karem, it was Fra Dobromir Jasztal who preached the homily.
While we are still breathing the atmosphere of Christmas and still basking in the joy of Jesus’ birth, after the martyrdom of Saint Stephen, the liturgy invites us now to commemorate the martyrdom of the Holy Innocents.
Why did God save only Jesus and not all the children of Bethlehem? Why did he warn only Joseph to bring Jesus to a safe place? Is it possible that God is unjust? According to our own logic, God could have eliminated Herod.
But our logic, human logic, is not God’s logic. With Jesus’ birth, God’s logic is revealed. Jesus, knowing that this logic is difficult to understand, said a short time before his death, “Blessed is he who is not scandalized because of me.”
While the death of Jesus on the cross takes on its full meaning in the Resurrection, are we able to believe that the blood of little ones, innocent blood, is precious and has value in the eyes of God? Are we able to believe in this logic and especially to accept it in our lives?
Herod was cruel, but above all he wanted to kill Jesus because he understood that Jesus’ existence would ruin his own plans. And we ourselves—do we not sometimes want to get rid of what keeps us from doing what we want?
By the intercession of the Holy Innocents, let us pray, rather, that we become able to accept what stands in our way. Let us pray, not to judge God’s actions, but to see how in his hands suffering produces fruit and life in abundance, as Jesus promised—was the substance of Fra Dobromir’s comments.
After Mass, the friars remained for the daily procession in the grotto and were then invited to lunch by Fra Ricardo.
After fraternal time together, the friars reassembled in the crypt to sing Vespers, during which the altar of the Innocents was censed.
May the spilled blood of the innocents of today be received by the Lord and transformed into new life and a source of peace for the world.