Feast of the Holy Innocents

Feast of the Holy Innocents is in remembrance of the massacre of young children in Bethlehem by King Herod the Great in his attempt to kill the infant Jesus (Matthew 2:16–18). The slain children were regarded by the early church as the first martyrs.

The first reading (1 John 1:5-22) reminds us that Jesus Christ “is the sacrifice that takes our sins away, and not only ours, but the whole world’s” while the Gospel (Matthew 2:13-18) gives the account of the slaughter of the children and reminds us of the sorrow of so many parents who lose children in tragic circumstances “A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loudly lamenting; it was Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted because they were no more.”