Save the Innocents

For a second time in just a few days, the Church commemorates the slaughter of thousands of innocent children at the hands of Herod the King. These first martyrs, having offered their lives without ever even meeting Christ, should be honored by all Christians not only with a reference on the calendar but a permanent place in our hearts.

They gave their lives simply because Herod was jealous and afraid to lose his power. It brings to my mind the lives of thousands of innocent children lost every day at the hands of doctors. Because so many women are afraid to lose their way of life and don’t want to be inconvenienced with the birth of their own children, voluntarily kill the infants still in their mothers’ womb.

Herod lived a tortured life following his act of violence against innocent children, and many (if not all) mothers who have aborted their children live tormented lives when they realize what has taken place. I have confessed many women who have had abortions, some many years after the fact, and the effect is always the same, a feeling of deep regret.

What would have happened if Herod had not killed the innocent children? Christ, His mother, and Joseph, all escaped his wrath, and He returned to Jerusalem to rescue His people from the tyranny of sin and death. If Herod had allowed the children to live, Christ would still have rescued His people. I wonder what would change of tens of thousands of mothers chose NOT to abort their children. Would the torment be replaced with joy watching their children grow in the faith, if mothers rescued their unborn children from death?

We may not know what would have happened in the past, nor are we guaranteed to know what will happen in the future. Here’s what we do know. Abortion torments the lives of mothers, and often fathers too, but a life of changed priorities and the inconvenience of having to change diapers instead of going out on the town with friends, seems to be a better option. At least the inconvenience of changing diapers becomes the joy of raising children. The torment of abortion remains the torment of death.

We can’t go back in time and save the innocents slaughtered by Herod. We can save the lives of innocents about to be slaughtered by doctors.