The Holy Innocents of Rockford

 Since the sixth century, on December 28, the Church has celebrated the memory of those children killed because of Herod’s rage against the Christ child. After the Holy Family was visited by the Magi, Herod, in rage and jealousy, slaughtered all the baby boys in Bethlehem and surrounding countryside in an attempt to destroy his perceived rival, the infant Messiah. These "innocents" are honored by the Church as martyrs.

 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 fulfill 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. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

 "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation: Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled because they were no more."  Matthew 2:13-1

 In our own time and our own city many today still perceive a child in the womb as a rival to their personal plans, comfort, financial or social desires.  The abortion industry provides the ways and means of killing these children.  Innocent children still face death at the hands of modern day Herods in Rockford.

 Jesus’ Identification With The Holy Innocents And With Every Child Facing A Tyrants Wrath

 When Jesus took on a human nature in the womb of the Virgin Mary He sanctified every child in the womb by the very fact that God Himself was once a child in the womb.

 Jesus Said, "whatever you do to the least of My brethren you do unto Me."

 When we call a child in the womb a "choice" that can be killed we are making a "choice" like Herod to kill who and what belongs to God.

 When we say a child in the womb is not fully human we are acting like Herod by denying the fact of every persons God given right to life.

 When we say a woman must be free to control her own body we are really saying with Herod we have the power to kill another person and we will use it.

 When we say the government has no right to interfere in someones personal "choice" to end a pregnancy we are saying as Herod did that the lives of other persons have no meaning if they interfere with my wants.

 When we say no mother should be forced to give birth to a child, we say with Herod if a child is already alive but we can’t endure her presence we can destroy her life.

 When we say there are too many children in the world, we are saying with Herod this world belongs to me alone and you have no rights unless I give them to you.

 When we say with Herod what give you religious people the right to tell me what I can and cannot do, we are as blind as Herod was to the fact that life is a gift from God and those who destroy this gift in others stand in danger of losing this gift for themselves for all eternity.

 What Herod’s henchmen and modern abortion supporters refuse to acknowledge, blinded by a diabolic selfishness, is God took on flesh in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary to teach us God’s heart to heart relationship and union of love with every child in the womb.  The Word became flesh in the womb of a woman to be in communion with every one of us when we were in our mothers womb.  Jesus in the womb of Mary shows us that God’s capacity to love knows no bounds; that God has a covenant relationship with every person no matter how small and powerless.

 Just as the Holy Innocents were killed because they were linked with the Christ child, every child killed at Rockford‘s abortion mill is also eternally linked with Jesus Christ.  And in this we can be strengthened in faith, hope, and love as we fight the battle for life at the "foot of the cross" in Rockford.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  God loved us so much that He became man.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Christ is sacrificed anew in every abortion.