Artwork as appeared in recent Maryknoll Magazine on Ebola outbreak in West Africa
Yesterday Sunday was the Feast day of the Holy Family,
and of the Holy Innocents also this year, in our Catholic Church calendar. It seems a strange convergence, the new born
sacred family and the infant victims of violence. In a time when we decry the demise of the
ideal family in our culture, and see family values under threat, we must
remember that the Holy Family of Mary, Joseph and Jesus was also under
duress. For their society they were not
the ideal family--seen to be in their day, an unwed mother, foster father,
bastard child.
The Son of God was born into an unfriendly world, in an
occupied country, homeless and displaced by the taxing authority, in a stable. Jesus then barely escaped being one of some
hundred Holy Innocents, babies of Bethlehem murdered by the ruthless potentate
of His day, King Herod. Soon they had to
flee for His life, and became refugees for a while in Egypt. They still made a loving family, deeply
blessed in God’s grace. We can be such open,
generous, compassionate families too, by accepting God’s grace, and giving of
ourselves, following their holy [often contrary to culture] example.
The Martyring of the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem
Holiness as brought to us by Jesus, is not a thing of
halos and pretty adornments, but of difficult, dreadful, merciful love. The times were hard in zero A.D.; they are
now, even in our land of luxury, for many rich and poor—in conflicting
ways. We search for a solution, and, as
did the Magi, find this One scandalously born into a barn surrounded by animals
and shepherds. The Creator of the world
made flesh, to become the Savior of all.
Pope Francis in his Christmas Day proclamation said that
hope for the poor is crucially linked to changed hearts among the rich. From an AP story: While much of his message concerned poor countries,
Francis had harsh words for some in affluent nations. He prayed for an end to
the hardened hearts "of so many men and women immersed in worldliness and
indifference, the globalization of indifference." Christmas joy will only be realized when weapons
are transformed "into ploughshares, destruction into creativity, hatred
into love and tenderness," Francis concluded before giving the crowd his
blessing.
Referring to refugees and exiles, he prayed:
"May indifference be changed into closeness, and rejection into
hospitality."
We of the most
blessed, nation of immigrants, should certainly be receptive to this prayer, on
the day celebrating the birth of Our Savior, and be prepared to be leaders in
this change.
Reference
Illumination by Kathy Brahney
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