The wily king Herod, who was reigning in Judea at
the time of the birth of Our Saviour, learned from three Wise Men from the East
that they had come to Jerusalem, advised by a star in the heavens, in search of
the newborn King of the Jews. Herod's superstitious fear of losing his throne
was awakened, and he grew troubled. He called together the chief priests,
questioned them, and learned from them that the awaited Messiah was to be born
in Bethlehem, the city of David. He said to the strangers: When you have found
Him, bring me word, that I too may go and adore Him.
The star which had guided the Magi re-appeared
over Bethlehem, and they found the Infant and adored Him, and offered Him their
royal gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, recognizing by these His perfect
Divinity, His royalty, and His prophesied sufferings. God warned them in a
dream afterwards not to go back to Herod, and they returned to their lands,
rejoicing, by a different route. Saint Joseph, too, was warned during his sleep
by an Angel to take the Child and His Mother and flee into Egypt, for Herod
will seek the life of the Infant.
When Herod realized that the Wise Men would not
return, he was furious, and in his rage ordered that every male child in
Bethlehem and its vicinity, of the age of two years or less, be slain. These
innocent victims were the flowers and first-fruits of the Saviour's legions of
martyrs; they triumphed over the world without having ever known it or
experienced its dangers.
Reflection: That the Holy Innocents may be invoked to be
preserved from illusion is the Church's belief. Herod's illusion of threat from
the newborn King cost their lives... How few, perhaps, of these innocent little
ones, if they had lived, would have escaped the dangers of the world! From what
snares, what sins, what miseries were they preserved! Surely they rejoice now
in their fate. We often lament, as misfortunes, many accidents which in the
designs of Heaven are the greatest mercies.
