Two Holy Innocents - little Rose Ida meets baby Jesus in the Nativity scene that has been part of our family Christmas in Marshall from the beginning - 34 years ago. It is probably twice that old or more! Today is the feastday of the Holy Innocents, the tiny martyrs, who gave their lives to protect our newborn Savior of the world. Such a brutally hard thing for the parents and families to see their small ones slaughtered as the "furious" Herod ordered all the boys 2 years old and younger to be massacred. Two weeks ago today the killings occurred in Connetticut. My family gathered for Cross Christmas Camp and as we prayed the rosary each morning we recalled vividly the horror of this killing of 20 young children... At one point my mother compared it to the Holy Innocents, and that truly seemed to put it in a place of common pain and loss. Yet it is hard to find this justification of bit of sense to be made of their loss as we read this today may it give us some peace and hope..."This barbaric case of 'mistaken identity' becomes the source of incomparable exultation for the Holy Innocents. For there is no greater glory than for a person to be mistaken for Christ himself. Perhaps the Lord has this in mind later in life when he declares that the only those who change and become like little children can enter the Kingdom of God. In our childlikeness, we are most like Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sin begins to reach us and transform us today in a powerful way through the blood of the martyred Holy Innocents." see www.magnificat.com
A beautiful birth scene of the Savior of the world shortly becomes a place of slaughter and horror, as Joseph is warned in a dream to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt to protect him from harm! John is starting to work on an outline of his book he wants to write about his cancer journey/healing. It will truly be his life story as he strayed away from his faith and asked the Lord to bring it alive... brain cancer did that with great gusto! Reading over the outline yesterday I was struck with the funny stories that John lived with each staggering step that he took from discovering the cancer through treatments and PRAYER WITHOUT END. I see that his book, that he so yearns to share, will be a wonderful sharing of his humor and the very humbling stories... I could just laugh they way that he stated his thoughts in the outline- "The urinal in the airport -holding onto the dividers so humbly." was one he had for our trip to France after his second chemo! Then I recalled his falling into the creek in the back pasture when he tried to jump over it... Just thinking that it could be such a good and uplifting book showing us how we are called to be little children once again!
Well, Lord, we thank and praise you for the beauty of finding HOPE in your Truth. May we embrace the humble state of a little child and be open to YOU more and more in our lives. Jesus,we trust in you. Amen and Halleluia
Bless-bless, Barb
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