Feast of the Holy Innocents, martyrs
The loss of a child is an unspeakable tragedy. Rachel weeps, says the prophet Jeremiah. She wept in Bethlehem at the massacre of the Holy Innocents, and she weeps again today for still countless young lives are brought to an end in ways that are not easy to understand. All the hope and all the love that was placed in a life that had yet to blossom before our eyes suddenly gone....a great darkness ensues.
Those who have been touched by the death of a little one have a lot to teach us. Their eyes pierced by pain see the coming of God into this world in ways that others cannot. Perhaps the miracle of that little life that came to us over 2,000 years ago, a life that came to open the gates of eternity for us, is a reminder that all the hope and love once felt is not lost. Our lives are not the same without those whom we have lost, but our lives are what they are because of them. And we may find hope in believing that the story isn’t over, that because of that fragile, little life of the Christ child, one day we'll be together, never to part again.