DAILY- HOMILY

December 28, 2017 - THURSDAY

HOLY INNOCENTS, Martyrs

Feast, Red

1 Jn 1: 5 - 2: 2 / Mt 2: 13 - 18

     The Holy Innocents celebrate the memory of the male children two years old and under ordered to be killed by King Herod in his attempt to kill the Infant Christ Child.

FROM THE 1ST READING:             1 Jn 2: 1 - 2

     My little children, I write to you that you may not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an intercessor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Just One. He is the sacrificial victim for our sins and the sins of the whole world.

From the Gospel Reading:            Mt 2: 13 -16

After the wise men had left, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will soon be looking for the child in order to kill him"

     Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left that night for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. In this way, what the Lord had said through the prophet was fulfilled: I called my son out of Egypt.

     When Herod found out that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was furious. He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its neighborhood who were two years old or under. This was done in line with what he had learned from the wise men about the time when the star appeared.

REFLECTION

     As a teacher, I deal with children on a daily basis. Sadly, I have seen some of them age from happy innocent children to teenagers with a lot of anger and bitterness and, for some, even hopelessness and despair. We often look at King Herod and say, "What an evil man! He killed innocent babies!" Perhaps, unknowingly, we have also harmed innocent children around us: at times, by seemingly harmless or thoughtless teasing or by inappropriate jokes, by allowing them to watch age-inappropriate TV shows and movies, by letting them play violent video games. Many times they hear us curse and we give excuses that this is merely a slip-of-the-tongue or meaningless expression. Some children experience physical or verbal abuse from their own parents who claim they do so out of frustration or exasperation or just unthinking carelessness. These actions do cause innocent children to sort of die little by little.

     How do we avoid being another Herod? In the first reading John advises us to be in fellowship with God, to acknowledge our sinfulness and to trust in the Lord Jesus, our intercessor with the Father. We have to be conscious and cautious when dealing with children so that they may be properly guided.

     Another advice given by Jesus himself is for us to be like little children ourselves, uncorrupted by sin and steadfast in our trust in God our Father.

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY

     HERMINIA MUSICO

     JONATHAN S. SECAPORE

     LITA TOH

     MA. CELIA R.. MARIN

WEDDING ANNIVERSARY 

     EMILIE & MONCHING CRUZ

     VICTORIA& LEONARDO L. YU

     WESLEY & LEONA PANUTAT

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most. 

Have a good day!

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