Daily Reflection – Dec 28, 2015
Monday 28 December 2015
First Reading: 1 John 1:5 – 2:2
Psalm Response:
Our soul has escaped like a bird from the hunter’s nest
Psalm 124:2-5, 7-8
Gospel Reading: Matthew 2:13-18
Today’s Feast: The Holy Innocents, Martyrs
Gospel Reading:
When the magi had departed, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
“Rise, take the child 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 rose and took the child and his mother by night
and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod,
that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,
Out of Egypt I called my son.
When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi,
he became furious.
He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity
two years old and under,
in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.
Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:
A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loud lamentation;
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she would not be consoled,
since they were no more.
Reflection:
How many modern wives pay attention and obey the dreams and visions of their husbands? Mary does. Angels continue to announce to Joseph and he too is obedient, taking his family into exile in Egypt. Whether there is any historical basis for this “flight” is not important because Scripture does not call for faith in history, but trust that God’s word gives us the truth we need for our salvation.
What truth for our salvation here, when so many innocents are being slaughtered, abandoned, trafficked in today’s world! The children of addicts in our countries, children in refugee camps around the world, children sold by their own parents, children maimed by war and violence.
Let your imagination take you around the world. Go to the burnt out villages of Sudan, the refugee camps of Kenya, the Arizona desert along the Mexican border. “Flee” with Mary, Joseph and Jesus. Watch Joseph and Mary with the baby enter these situations, perhaps even the violent family home next door. How can they help?
O God, spare the infants, heal the children, and enrage us to the point of action.
Show us, holy Spirit, some way in which we can stop abuse, even if it is a small step.
