|
|
||||||||||||
When the magi had departed, behold, the
angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the
child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell
you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph
rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He
stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through
the prophet might be fulfilled, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” When
Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He
ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years
old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the
magi. Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the
prophet: “A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel
weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, since they were no
more.” |
||||||||||||
|
Gospelthink:
I lived in very difficult times with very evil people. Do I pray for the
evil people in my world now? |
||||||||||||
|
Jackson Briggs, a US Army Ranger
suffering from PTSD was denied his wish to renter the Rangers because of
his brain injury. Hoping for reinstatement, he was told by by his commanding officer to escort a military dog, Lulu,
to the funeral of the dog's owner and afterwards take him to a place where
the dog would be euthanized. On the road the true personality of Briggs
became apparent as he interacted with Lulu. He tried to satisfy his selfish
desires, but he had to continually take care of Lulu as the dog kept escaping
from her cage or tore up Briggs's car, pr ran away. On their way to Arizona
for the funeral, Briggs is rejected by his estranged wife who has his
daughter, but meets up with a former Ranger who rehabilitated Lulu's dog
brother and who taught Briggs to have a deeper connection with Lulu. |
||||||||||||
|
The little family that
we have come to call “holy” discovered early on that the intentions of people
in power may be evil. In the story dealing with the magi from the East, the
evangelist Matthew tells us that Herod became furious once he found out that the
wise men had tricked him. So, under the guise of wanting to pay homage to the
new king, his real intention was guided by pure selfishness. The consequence
of that selfishness is what we have come to call the "slaughter of the
Holy Innocents." |
||||||||||||
|
PRAYER Good and gracious God, thank you for
your gift of free will. It is a tremendous gift, but I know firsthand that it
can be misused. We human beings want what we want. Give us the grace to truly
understand that our free will must be guided by you. Be with us, we
pray. |
||||||||||||
|
+++++
|
||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
|
©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America |
||||||||||||
