Memorial of the Holy Innocents. Prayer for all those who, from the mother's womb to the latter years of life, die as victims of violence.

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Glory to God in the highest
and peace on earth to the people he loves.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Matthew 2,13-18

After they had left, suddenly 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 on realising that he had been fooled by the wise men, and in Bethlehem and its surrounding district he had all the male children killed who were two years old or less, reckoning by the date he had been careful to ask the wise men. Then were fulfilled the words spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamenting and weeping bitterly: it is Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted because they are no more.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Both the Western and Eastern churches honour the Holy Innocents, that is those children who were killed by Herod in his attempt to get rid of Jesus. "They don't even speak yet and already they confess Christ! They are not yet able to face the struggle... and yet they already carry the triumphant palms of martyrdom" sings an ancient Father of the Church. Herod embodied the brute force of evil. In his heart there is a homicidal fury that unleashes pain, weeping, cries and laments. It is the obsession of power that in order to preserve itself at any cost, pushes people to cruel and unjustifiable massacres. Herod represents the ferociousness of war that still today kills so many innocent children, How can we oppose this ferociousness? The Gospel speaks to us of the gentle Jospeh. Without any power, strong only of faith and of his passionate love for the child, he let the angel lead him: "Take the child and his mother with you and flee to Egypt." This is a Gospel passage that we cannot relegate to the past. It is incredibly relevant. How many little ones in our own time meet their deaths while they are escaping wars and conflict, in the cruel indifference of those who are so bend on themselves who are not moved even by these little ones whom we can consider the "new innocent martyrs." Cruelty towards children is a terrible plague that transversally hits the entire world. Christians and people of good are called to listen, just as Joseph did, to the angel of the Lord and take the children with them snatching them from violence and saving them