Homily: December 28, 2024 Feast of the Holy Innocents (Suffering).

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"Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you."

Just three days ago, we celebrated Christmas - a joyful commemoration of the day God came to live among us in our world, it is a when divine light entered human darkness, it is a day for rejoicing. The Christmas season continues for the Church up until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

However, if we read and reflect on the details of Christ’s birth and events surrounding this season of joy, we see poverty, simplicity and suffering.

Just before our Lord was born into this world, His earthly parents went through hardship just to find a place to rest, He was then welcomed into physical and material poverty, the day after His birth, we celebrated the death of the first martyr, St. Stephen, followed by the feast of St. John the Evangelist who suffered persecution and isolation till a ripe old age.

And now today, we observe the feast of the Holy Innocents — a sorrowful event when hundreds of innocent baby boys were killed by King Herod, consumed by fear and evil.

Why did God allow such cruelty?

Why does God allow suffering?

Why does the Church remind us of all these painful events during the season of Christmas?

I am not able to give a simple straightforward answer to these deep questions, but if we were to turn the table around, we might want to ask instead:

Why did the world ignore the most amazing event of God coming to us?

Why did the Jewish king fear the coming of the Messiah when he should be celebrating his redemption from sin?

Why do people continue to reject the church’s call to conversion but continue to live in arrogance and ignorance?

Our loving Father in heaven does not find joy in our suffering or sorrows, He is always calling out to us to direct our paths to find safety and sanity of our souls, like the angel’s warning to Joseph to bring his holy family to safety in Egypt.

The question is, do we hear Him? Do we believe what we hear? Do we trust and follow?

As believers, we are to echo God’s word, His message, His warning to all around us, so that they too can enter into the safe haven of redemption from eternal punishment.

Today, as we remember the Holy Innocents who perished because of evil, let us also remember all innocent people who suffer because of injustice and cruelty, especially from the decisions and actions of people in authority. May God, in His mercy, comfort them and transform their pain into a source of grace and renewal for the world.

Amen.


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