Ｗhat was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

“A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children

and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

 

The wise men, having found the child indicated by the star. They could not retrace their steps.

Herod has not seen the child. And so, when faced with disappointment

he goes back to his old techniques of misusing his power and authority.

That is why all children two years old and under must pay the price. 

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

1 John 1:5-2:2

We heard his message,

From him, and announce it to you: God is light and there is no darkness in him.

If we say we are in fellowship with him, while we walk in darkness, we lie, instead of being in truth.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we are in fellowship with one another;

and the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, purifies us from all sin.

 

If we say, "We have no sin," we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he, who is faithful and just, will forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all wickedness.

If we say that we do not sin, we make God a liar, his word is not in us.

 

My little children, I write to you, that you may not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an intercessor with the Father,

Jesus Christ, the Just One. He is the sacrificial victim, for our sins, and the sins of the whole world.

 

Ps 124:2-3, 4-5, 76-8

Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the fowler's snare.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊     

Matthew 2:13-18

After the wise men had left, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said,

"Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you,

for Herod will soon be looking for the child in order to kill him."

 

Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left that night for Egypt,

where he stayed until the death of Herod. In this way,

what the Lord had said through the prophet was fulfilled: I called my son out of Egypt.

 

When Herod found out that he had been tricked by the wise men,

he was furious. He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its neighborhood who were two years old or under.

This was done, according to what he had learned from the wise men about the time when the star appeared.

 

In this way, what the prophet Jeremiah had said was fulfilled: A cry is heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation:

Rachel weeps for her children. She refuses to be comforted, for they are no more.

 

Gospel Reflection ：

Reflection:

"Trusting God's plan."

Giving witness to the Word of life, the incarnate Word,

means accepting life as it is in all its beauty as well as the daily struggles it brings. Daily struggles in life are real.

We can always hold on to the holy innocence within each one of us that we may be able to

live up to the challenge of giving witness to the Word of life despite the struggles.

 

Luke and Matthew have their respective accounts of the Infancy Narrative. If we compare the Lucan account,

which is set in a joyful atmosphere, we can see that Matthew's Infancy Narrative narrates the struggles of the family of Jesus,

Mary and Joseph and of all the others related to them such as the innocents of Bethlehem.

The pericope today narrates the flight to Egypt of Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus.

 

The same pericope narrates the massacre of the children upon Herod's order.

Struggles are real but God is always bigger than any struggles in life. Hence, we can always trust God's plan.

Our holy innocence within enables us to cooperate with the divine plan.