Holy Innocents…

I’ve been learning about the church calendar, thanks very much to the Treasury of Daily Prayer I received for Christmas. Apparently, we commemorate the slaughter of babies by King Herrod. Pastor McCain wonders why there are no decorations for these infants .

Rightly, Pastor McCain points us to the slaughter of the Innocent, our Savior, who died for our sins. I would like to actually answer his question. We do not commemorate the Holy Innocents because we, as a culture, are no longer horrified by mass murder. In particular, Christians of my generation are no longer horrified by abortion. Further, accounts of crazy people, even parents, murdering children abound in our news.

Sit down and think about the last time you thought, I mean really thought about ALL of the Christmas Story. A couple of years ago, there was a movie in the theaters that told the Christmas Story, rather well, I would say. That’s the last time I acknowledged the slaughter of the innocents. But, I haven’t really sat down to think of it in a very long time, a decade or so, perhaps.

We do not commemorate these innocents because it doesn’t fit with the Christian stereotype of how post Christmas is supposed to feel. We are supposed to continue the warm fuzzy feeling throughout the New Years. We do not commemorate these infants because we are no longer shocked, nor horrified, and, quite honestly, we’ve been trained to think it is morally acceptable, or at least tolerable, or not worthy of our roughest punishment when children are murdered in cold blood.

God have mercy on our jaded, evil souls.