Liturgical Readings for : Thursday, 28th December, 2023
28-12- The Holy Innocents, martyrs
The massacre of the Holy Innocents and the flight into Egypt demonstrate the opposition of the darkness to the light that the coming of Jesus engendered: Jesus was not accepted by 100% of the people, foreign or local. Persecution is part of the Christian experience in many countries. It is a reminder of our need for prayer.
FIRST READING
A reading from the first letter of St John 1:5 – 2:2
The blood of Jesus Christ purifies us from all sin.
This is what we have heard from Jesus Christ, and the message that we are announcing to you:
God is light; there is no darkness in him at all.
If we say that we are in union with God while we are living in darkness,
we are lying because we are not living the truth.
But if we live our lives in the light, as he is in the light,
we are in union with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
If we say we have no sin in us; we are deceiving ourselves
and refusing to admit the truth;
but if we acknowledge our sins, then God who is faithful and just
will forgive our sins and purify us from everything that is wrong.
To say that we have never sinned is to call God a liar
and to show that his word is not in us.
I am writing this, my children, to stop you sinning;
but if anyone should sin, we have our advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, who is just; he is the sacrifice that takes our sins away,
and not only ours, but the whole world’s.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 123
Response Our life, like a bird, has escaped from the snare of the fowler.
1. If the Lord had not been on our side when men rose against us,
then would they have swallowed us alive when their anger was kindled. Response
2. Then would the waters have engulfed us, the torrent gone over us;
over our head would have swept the raging waters. Response
3. Indeed the snare has been broken and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven arid earth. Response
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia!
We praise you, O God, we acknowledge you to be the Lord.
The noble army of martyrs praise you, O Lord.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew 2:13-18 Glory to you, O Lord.
In Bethlehem Herod had all the male children killed.
After the wise men had left, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
‘Get up, take the child and his mother with you, and escape into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and do away with him’.
So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, left that night for Egypt, where he stayed until Herod was dead. This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken through the prophet:
I called my son out of Egypt.
Herod was furious when he realised that he had been outwitted by the wise men, and in Bethlehem and its surrounding district he had all the male children killed who were two years old or under, reckoning by the date he had been careful to ask the wise men. It was then that the words spoken through the prophet Jeremiah were fulfilled:
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.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection 28 Dec. Feast of the Holy Innocents Matthew 2:13–18
The portrayal of Herod the Great in today’s gospel reading is in keeping with what is known about him from the historical records. He owed his power to Rome and, having gained power, he would do everything possible to retain it. In his later years he seems to have become especially paranoid, seeing threats to his power all about him, executing members of his family whom he suspected of wanting to overthrow him. If an infant king of the Jews had recently been born, as told to him by the magi from the East, then to eliminate any possible threat to his power, he ordered the death of all children under two years of age.
The gospel displays a figure who embodies ruthless, self-serving, power to an extreme degree. We don’t have to go back two thousand years to find such figures. They are all too contemporary. It can be difficult to discern any light in such dark and dangerous rulers. They seem to be the polar opposite of what is said of God in today’s first reading, ‘God is light; there is no darkness in him at all’. Elsewhere in this letter, the author states, ‘God is love’, suggesting how ‘God is light’ is to be understood. The author acknowledges that there is some darkness in all of us, ‘If we say we have no sin in us, we are deceiving ourselves’.
We may not be like Herod, but the light of God’s love does not yet fully shine through our lives. Yet, even when the princes of darkness, like Herod, do their worst to others, something of the light of God’s love often shines forth through those who have been made to suffer. It is there in today’s gospel reading in the care that Joseph shows for his wife and child as they try to escape a murderous tyrant. How often in the midst of wars unleashed by despots does God’s light of love shine forth! Our calling is not just to curse the darkness but to reveal ever more fully the God of light and love who became flesh in the person of Jesus.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966/7/8 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd
