Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: Martyrdom and the joy of Christmas?

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Martyrdom and the joy of Christmas?

Today the Church celebrates the strange but beautiful and sad Feast of the Holy Innocents.

During this time of joy, the Church has given us two martyrdoms to celebrate during the Christmas Octave - 26th December St Stephen the Deacon and now the Holy Innocents. You may be thinking to yourself - Why is the Church obsessed with martyrdom and why are we celebrating the horrible massacre of little babies and young boys?

This is because the Church has always had a special veneration for the martyrs. Martyrs as witnesses to Christ are seen as the Christian par excellence, those who died for Christ share in a unique and special way in the Paschal Mystery of Christ. They were killed for him and now share in the fullness of redemption in heaven with him. Jesus did not take away suffering or death - but he redeemed and transformed it. This is why he was born, to free is from our sins and to defeat the power of death. So now the martyrs are the “first fruits” of the work of Christ and so we remember them and celebrate them in a special way, who now share in the new life in Christ.

At the king’s command these innocent babies and little children were put to death; they died for Christ, and now in the glory of heaven as they follow him, the sinless Lamb, they sing for ever: Glory to you, O Lord.

(Benedictus Antiphon)

But who are the Holy Innocents?

These were the young boys under the age of 2 killed by King Herod (Matthew 2:16–18). Herod was worried that the Messiah would dethrone him and he woiuld lose his power as the Messiah was to be the King of the Jews (Matthew 2:2-4). These young children killed for Christ as witnesses to him are also reminiscent of the young boys killed by Pharoah (Exodus 1:22). So this helps to highlight that Jesus the Christ child, is the New Moses who brings us out of slavery to sin and establishes the Church as the New Israel who worships in “spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24)

These Holy Innocents were killed for no other reason but because of Christ. They were killed because of Christ, and interestingly enough they were killed in his place. So the paradox here is that by dying for Christ, they now partake of the blessings of the death of Christ who also died for them. This is why they have been referred to as the Martyr Flowers who are the buds and shoots of the new fruit of the Gospel. Death no longer has the final word - but Jesus does (Revelation 1:18).

The Collect for today highlights that although as children they could not speak, by their death proclaimed Christ himself because that’s exactly why they were killed. So this is why the Church remembers and celebrates them as martyrs.

Through the intercession of the Holy Innocents, may we too proclaim Christ by our life and words to share in his victory over death.

O God, whom the Holy Innocents confessed
and proclaimed on this day,
not by speaking but by dying,
grant, we pray,
that the faith in you which we confess with our lips
may also speak through our manner of life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.