Reflection for Monday, December 28, 2015: The Feast of the Holy Innocents.

Abstract

Today is the feast of the Holy Innocents, a feast that I remember from childhood. I remember how I used to wonder how anyone could have been so evil as to kill all the baby boys. I thought it was something that could only happen long ago, but could not be repeated in a modern world. Yet this story is repeated every day in the abortions that are performed throughout our modern world.|As a child I could not understand the evil of a person such as Herod. The babies of our times are not killed by one evil power-hungry man, but by health care providers who have turned their backs on their call to care and heal. As a nurse, I do not understand what motivates someone who is supposed to be committed to the preservation of life to do just the opposite? Is it greed for the money they receive for the abortions? Do they truly believe that they are removing something less than human from the nurturance, safety and shelter of the mother's womb?|What motivates us as a nation to allow this evil to exist in our midst? It is not just a passive allowance; our law protects the right to abortion even for no particular reason. How have individual "rights" become so sacred that they can take precedence over the life an unborn baby?|How do we stop this selfish senseless killing? There are some who have been proactive in their attempts to insure that options are available for women who think there is no other solution. There are others who have been proactive in attempting to change the laws of our nation. There are those who have marched and picketed in protest. There are even more who pray regularly for an end to this senseless killing of our modern Holy Innocents. Yet, abortion continues. What else do we need to do?|The Holy Innocents of the Holy Family's time that we remember on this feast have been joined by the millions of babies killed in our modern world. Let us ask all of the Holy Innocents killed by Herod and those killed in abortion clinics to help us find a more effective solution. Let us pray for their assistance in providing even more options for women who are desperate, opening the ears of the health care providers who no longer hear their true call, and softening the hearts of Supreme Court Justices and legislators so they recognize the injustice of killing the innocents of our time.