Avoiding the Christmas Creep
The following is a commentary from Saint Lawrence of Brindisi. He is a doctor of the church known for his preaching throughout Europe in the 16th and 17th Centuries. He was minister general of the Capuchin Friar community.
We have two events in today’s Gospel: the flight of Christ to Egypt and the martyrdom of the Holy Innocents in Bethlehem, and both are a cause for great wonder.
First, it is surprising that Christ who is Lord even of the angels should flee from a man who is persecuting him.
[But the reason is that] Christ was needed to preach the Gospel, to perform miracles, to institute the sacraments, to give us an example of virtues, for he was given us to be our model…. The hour and time of his death predetermined by the Father had not yet come….
It is also surprising that these Innocents were allowed to suffer such a terrible persecution from Herod….
Surely God was able to defend these innocents from the fury and power of Herod. Why is it, then, that he allowed such a horrendous crime, such inhumanity, such a monstrous deed of savage cruelty? We need to remember that in addition to temporal goods and evils, God has also created eternal goods as a reward for virtue, and eternal pains as a punishment for evil.
Now these Holy Innocents are basking in eternal blessings with the holy angels in Paradise, whereas Herod like that rich feaster is tormented by eternal punishments (Lk 16:19-31)….
Today, therefore, God gave these Holy Innocents a reward so great that even the angels would envy them, if that were possible. Who would not most willingly offer a gift to a king and be repaid a hundred, even a thousand times more in return? God accepts their gift of temporal life today and rewards it with the gift of eternal life. What an incredible gain! God found, so to say, these precious pearls today and snatched them away from the earth…and placed them among his treasures in heaven. He saw these lovely flowers growing in the garden of the Church and plucked them to adorn the heavenly Paradise.
What a great grace, what an unspeakable blessing God conferred on these Innocents today…. He rescued them from the power of the devil before they ever faced any danger to their salvation before the battle had even begun…and he crowned them with eternal glory.