The Fourth Day of Christmas

Happy Fourth Day of Christmas!

Today is the Day of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs. The infant martyrs commemorated on this day were the children of Bethlehem, two years old and younger, who were killed by Herod, who worried that his reign was threatened by the birth of a new king. Augustine called these innocents "buds, killed by the frost of persecution the moment they showed themselves." Those linked to Jesus through their youth and innocence encounter the same hostility Jesus encounters later in his ministry. (From Sundays and Seasons Year C 2013, published by Augsburg Fortress)


If you want to read about the Holy Innocents, head to Matthew 2:16-18. 

As much as this story is a "downer" in the midst of Christmas, it serves as a reminder that Jesus was born into the real world, a world full of beauty and love, yes, but also full of danger and sin. Perhaps it can inspire us to offer blessing and care to the "Holy Innocents" of our times and places.