"When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through 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 are no more.” (Matthew 2:16-18)
Just a few days after the joyful and luminous celebration of Christmas the evangelist St. Matthew puts us before the manifestation of the Evil in all its horror by picturing a horrible, frightful and bloody scene: the massacre of the innocent children.
When we think about the slaughter of these innocent children along with today's continuing slaughter of the unborn through the horrors of abortion, poverty, war... it becomes clear that they come from the same supreme act of selfishness. Even though Herod heard the message coming from the prophets of his own people, he had no desire to align his heart with the purposes of God.
In fact, this horrible death inflicted on innocent kids is a terrible illustration of what man in his savage and satanic folly can do when he is determined to get rid of Jesus Christ. If a man is set on his own way, if he sees in Christ someone who is liable to interfere with his ambitions and rebuke his ways, his one desire is to eliminate Christ. And then he is driven to the most terrible things, for if he does not break men's bodies, he will break their hearts.
Even though Bethlehem was not a large town and as some Bible scholars think the number of the children would not exceed from twenty to thirty babies, along the centuries, the victims of abortion and euthanasia, injustice and destructive criticism, war and genocide, all the forms of racism, ostracism, sectarianism are innumerable.
As long as this world exists, the Church will proclaim that each and every person is worth more than all the power and all the gold in the world. She will be worried, as long as the fundamental rights of a person and especially of a child are despised, abused or violated!
"Rachel weeps for her children ... because they are no more": through Rachel, we perceive the face of our Mother-Church, who weeps today with tears and ripped heart. She weeps, she prays, she exhorts and warns the man of this age: "Do not touch my little ones - whoever they may be - do not mistreat them, do not abuse them, do not harm them, do not kill them! Do not touch my little ones - young or old, in full force of age or the twilight of life! "For, I tell you, in heaven, their angels continually see the face of my Heavenly Father." (Matthew 18:10)
