Merry 4th Day of Christmas! And welcome to Sunday
Snippets – A Catholic Carnival; this is a weekly gathering of Catholic bloggers
who share their posts for the week in a spirit of right good fellowship. The main site is here, at This That and the Other Thing where our
hostess RAnn calls us together around her wassail bowl to sing Christmas Carols
into the night. Well, in a virtual way,
anyway.
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| The Flight Into Egypt by Bartolome Esteban Murillo |
Today we
celebrate the Fourth Day of Christmas, which is usually the Feast of the Holy
Innocents. This day commemorates King
Herod’s slaughter of every male child two years old and younger in Bethlehem in an attempt to snuff out the Messiah that he learned had been born
there. This year, however, since the
date of Holy Innocents falls on the Sunday after Christmas, it is being
suppressed to make way for the Feast of the Holy Family.
The Change
certainly makes for a more upbeat post.
Normally, I would make the connection between the murder of the Holy
Innocents two thousand years ago and the wholesale massacre of unborn children
through abortion today. I might also
mention that even those youngsters who have dodged the abortionist are robbed
of their Holy Innocence by our pornified pop culture, causing all manner of suffering
throughout their lives, and contributing in a significant way to all sorts of
social pathologies.
Happily, thanks
to the Feast of the Holy Family, I don’t need to write that post. It is interesting, however, that the two
different feasts are really different sides of the same coin. The Holy Family of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus is
a model of God’s plan for the family; the slaughter of the Holy Innocents
underscores how far we need to go, right now, to adhere to that model. It is likewise interesting that one of the
few places in Scripture where we see the Holy Family in action is the same
passage from Matthew’s Gospel that describes the Holy Innocents:
And
being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they [the Magi] departed to
their own country by another way. Now when they had departed, behold, an angel
of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child
and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod
is about to search for the child, to destroy him." And he rose and took
the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained there
until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the
prophet, "Out of Egypt have I called my son." Then Herod, when he saw
that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent
and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were
two years old or under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the
wise men. (Matthew 2:12 -16)
Joseph, like fathers and fatherhood itself today, is often overlooked and forgotten. In the passage above, however, he is clearly
the leader of the family. Like his Old
Testament namesake, and the Wise Men from the East, he is warned in a dream,
and takes action; he has the vision to guide and protect his family. The family in our day and age is badly in need
of guidance and protection. On this
Feast of the Holy Family, we would do well to pray for the intercession of its
head and guardian (see here for my discussion of the Litany of St. Joseph).
And now, on to
the Snippets. We started this past week in
the Anticipation of Advent, and ended amidst the Joy of Christmas:
Monday – One of
the loveliest Advent songs, lovingly sung: “Frederica von Stade – ‘Lo, How A
Rose E’er Blooming’” [here]
Tuesday – A woman
and her doctor couldn’t be wrong, could they? “Abortion Myth # 14” [here]
Thursday – Posted
on Christmas Day – if this isn't already your favorite Christmas song, it might be after you see this video: “Merry Christmas – Beautiful
Celtic Version of ‘O Holy Night’” [here]
Friday – We need
to pay attention to Mater Ecclesia and her Liturgical Calendar: here I
announce my intention to honor each of the Twelve Days of Christmas, each at
its proper time: “Christmas Is Just Beginning!” [here]
and – The 2nd Day of
Christmas gives us our first martyr – here’s why it’s still a time for
rejoicing: “The 2nd Day of Christmas & Feast of St. Stephen:
Joy, Sorrow & Triumph” [here]
Saturday – The 3rd
Day of Christmas is the Feast of St. John the Evangelist, the only one of the
Twelve Apostles who did not die a martyr; he was also the only Apostle who
stood at the Foot of the Cross, the Disciple whom Jesus loved: “The 3rd
Day of Christmas & St. John the Evangelist: The Disciple Jesus Loved” [here]
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