Holy Innocents

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by 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 were no more." Matt. 2:16-18

Today is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, children that were killed simply because they were the right age to be the potential Messiah & thus a threat to Herod. There were probably no more than 20 boys killed. & this was 1 of Herod's lesser crimes. Yet, we are right to be horrified by this. But each day we have a worse slaughter here in the USA, over 3500 innocent children are killed by abortion each day.

There are many things we can do to combat this. 1st of all, & most important is prayer. An orginization called Priests for Life (www.priestsforlife.org) has many good prayer resources. They also provide good information on actions you can take. Another good site is the American Life League site (www.all.org). Many communities have local right to life groups you can join/support. Then there are orginizations like Birthright (www.birthright.org) who offer alternatives for those women facing unwanted pregnancies. Right to life does not mean merely stopping abortions, it includes offering these alternatives. & for those who have gone through an abortion there is Project Rachael (http://www.noparh.org/). They offer resources for women who have been through an abortion, men & grandparents who have lost a child to abortion.

The Declaration of Independence states: " We hold these truths to be self-evident,that all men are created equal,that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,that among these are Life... " Every person from the moment of conception is a unique individual that has an equal right to life as any 1 of us.

The USA once made the mistake of seeing some people as less than human & thus they could be kept as slaves without the rights promised them. It took a civil war to end this abhorant practice of slavery. I pray that we will soon wake up & realize that we are doing the same to an even more helpless class of people & end abortion forever.