Holy Innocents

For those of you who read this blog and are not Catholic, today is the feast day of the "Holy Innocents".  As the Gospel of Matthew goes, when King Herod learned from the Magi that the king of the Jews had been born...he got a little worried!  Clearly, he didn't want to lose his power to another king, so, he ordered the killing of all the children of Bethlehem up to the age of two in hopes of getting rid of this New Born King.

According to the Church, these children were declared martyrs because they died for Jesus Christ.

Frankly, this has always been a portion of Holy Scripture that I avoid.  Can you imagine the horror that these mothers went through?  What a scene of carnage it must have been.  The painting below gives me a vision of what that day might have been like. 

I think it goes to show, even back then, just how threatened people were by Jesus.  Some days, I don't think much has changed.  Nowadays, there is an attitude of denial...you know...if you don't talk about Him...don't make a big deal about Him....or just completely ignore Him...then He really doesn't exist....right?  Didn't humankind learn anything from past history?

You can take the name of Christ out of anything you want...off of our currency, out of the celebration of his birth, out of Federal buildings, out of the Pledge.....but it doesn't change His existence.  It doesn't change who He is.  It doesn't change His Majesty or His Holiness.  God is who He is...the Creator of everything and everyone.  Deny Him all you want, it isn't going to get you anywhere.....literally.

The painter is Andrea Delitio, an Italian Renaissance artist.  They say he was born in Abruzzo, Italy...although there is some debate.  The painting lives in the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta and it is said that it was completed in 1481.

In the bottom center of the painting, there is a mother with her dead child in her lap.  She is looking up into the heavens with her hands to her chest.  She looks to be pleading with heaven....asking "Why?"
At 46 years old, I still do not understand why God allows certain things to happen to people....especially to the innocent.

In 2011, I lost 6 friends to cancer.  Why?  Why did they die and why was I allowed to live?  There are so many jerks in this world....so many evil people.  Why do the good ones get cancer and not them?  Doesn't it make sense to rid the world of evil and allow those loving, Godly people to live long, happy, disease free lives? 

I'm so tired of it all.  Seriously.  Why does there have to be martyrs?  Why can't we all be Saints?