On Sunday, December 28, I attended Mass for the Feast of the Holy Family. This feast day in the Catholic Church celebrates Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
The homily mentioned G.K. Chesteron, a Catholic social commentator during the 20th century who spoke on social ills, among other things. As you may have guessed, abortion was one of the social ills faced today that the priest spoke about.
I was most touched by what came after the homily. It was then that the priest made mention of the Holy Innocents – the young infants who were killed by King Herod – as well as a call to pray for the end of abortion.
I was astounded. I wasn’t so much shocked that a Catholic church would make pro-life connections, but I still felt an overpowering feeling in my soul. The Feast of the Holy Family and the Holy Innocents made that much more sense to me now with abortion tied into them.
The Holy Innocents refers to those children executed under the orders of King Herod, who had heard about and feared the birth of Jesus. While Jesus was spared, since Joseph was warned of Herod’s intentions in a dream, many more children died. But these children also have a special connection with Jesus.
Certainly it’s not hard to see the connection between Herod’s execution of innocent baby boys and those innocent baby boys (and girls) whose lives are lost at the altar of abortion. The Church mourns and remembers those lives.
The Holy Innocents are few, in comparison to the genocide and abortion of our day. But even if there had been only one, we recognize the greatest treasure God put on the earth—a human person, destined for eternity and graced by Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Certainly one does not have to be Catholic to see the significance of the feast day, or from any religious perspective in order to be pro-life. But for those who do consider themselves religious, certainly such an application is special in reminding us of how the Catholic Church is without question pro-life.
