On the feast of the Savior’s Nativity we read the account of the Angel who appeared to the shepherds and said “I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people… “
And yet just three days following this announcement of joy and peace we are jarred by today’s remembrance of the brutal slaughter of the babes of Bethlehem and surrounding districts.
No sooner had the prince of peace come into our world than he had to flee to Egypt from Herod’s wrath, and all the male children under two years of age were murdered by the same evil Herod.
This story does not fill us with an immediate feeling of joy and peace. We can be certain the dear mothers and fathers of these babes felt no joy or peace at the death of their children; rather there was great weeping and lamentation. How is the angel’s promise of peace and goodwill to all men fulfilled amidst this evil? Where is the prince of peace as his fellow babes are killed in his place? He is fleeing to Egypt with his mother and stepfather; He is fleeing to safety so that he might live. Yet in his life he suffered so greatly, while these little ones bypassed the suffering of this life and went straight to glory.
This feast is a strange mix of joy and sadness, the joy is admittedly difficult for everyone but truly incomprehensible for those who do not know Christ. The Church handles this feast liturgically in a sensitive and delicate manner. The Church recognizes that we all share to some extent in the lamentation of these parents because we are still in the world enduring evil— Herod’s hatred and murderous attack in one way or another.
And yet we are beckoned to look past the wickedness of Herod and the loss in this world. With stunning boldness the Church teaches us to rejoice in this feast, to celebrate the sacrifice which has won many crowns of glory. Only those who can see the resurrected Christ and look through death to observe the glory that awaits those who die in the Lord could begin to understand the possibility of joy in this feast of the death of these holy innocents.
The office hymn begins: All hail ye infant martyr flowers…; they are holy and innocent, and when the Church reflects on them in her prayers and hymns there is no sadness but only rejoicing that they have won a crown of salvation. They teach us how with innocence and purity, with simplicity of a child, to go to God, to rejoice in his providence and receive from him the crown of life.
The sermons of the Fathers are equally exuberant. Here is a quote from a feast day sermon of St. Augustine:
Today, dearest brethren, we celebrate the birthday of those children who were slaughtered, as the Gospel tells us, by that exceedingly cruel king, Herod. Let the earth, therefore, rejoice and the Church exult — she, the fruitful mother of so many heavenly champions and of such glorious virtues. Never, in fact, would that impious tyrant have been able to benefit these children by the sweetest kindness as much as he has done by his hatred. For as today’s feast reveals, in the measure with which malice in all its fury was poured out upon the holy children, did heaven’s blessing stream down upon them.
“Blessed are you, Bethlehem in the land of Judah! You suffered the inhumanity of King Herod in the murder of your babes and thereby have become worthy to offer to the Lord a pure host of infants. In full right do we celebrate the heavenly birthday of these children whom the world caused to be born unto an eternally blessed life rather than that from their mothers’ womb, for they attained the grace of everlasting life before the enjoyment of the present. The precious death of any martyr deserves high praise because of his heroic confession; the death of these children is precious in the sight of God because of the beatitude they gained so quickly. For already at the beginning of their lives they pass on. The end of the present life is for them the beginning of glory. These then, whom Herod’s cruelty tore as sucklings from their mothers’ bosom, are justly hailed as “infant martyr flowers”; they were the Church’s first blossoms, matured by the frost of persecution during the cold winter of unbelief.”
These children are now in glory and among that band of intercessors who pray for us to fight the good fight of faith. We heard in St John’s apocalypse today saying of them: “These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.”
These pure and innocent babes teach us how to go to God, how to enter the kingdom of heaven, with simplicity and purity they enter into the Father’s presence. In the office hymn they are charmingly portrayed as playing with the martyrs palms and crowns.
This world is full of darkness and Herod, inspired by Satan, seeks to kill and destroy, but he can do nothing to harm the pure, the innocent. There is a rather jarring verse in one of the hymns which says that they see the shining swords coming to slay them and think they are toys to play with. Because of their innocence they see only God, they know only good. They do not see the darkness, they are incapable of it, they see only the light. They were murdered by an evil king and they received the palm and the crown of the martyr and as innocent children what did they do with them? With martyr palms and crowns ye play.
What a glorious faith we have that mocks the fruitless foe that can do nothing to hurt God’s children; the more we are assailed the more we are blessed who trust in God if only we become like these innocent babes.
Christ is Born!