HOMILY IX. ON THE FEAST OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS.
MATT. II. At that time, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, saying: Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, etc.
The sacred reading of the Gospel just recited to us, dearest brothers, is about the precious death of Christ's innocent martyrs, in which nevertheless the precious death of all Christ's martyrs is foreshadowed. For the fact that infants were killed signifies that through the merit of humility, one comes to the glory of martyrdom, and because unless a person is converted and becomes like a little child, they cannot give their soul for Christ. That they were killed in Bethlehem and in all its borders shows that not only in Judea, where the origin of the Church began, but also in all the borders of that same Church, wherever it has spread throughout the world, there will be persecutions by the wicked, and the patience of the pious is to be crowned. They who were killed from two years old and under signify those perfected in doctrine and action; they who were killed below that age indicate the simple or unlearned, yet having steadfast constancy in true faith. That they indeed were killed, but Christ, who was sought, escaped alive, implies that although the bodies of martyrs can be killed by the impious, Christ, for whom the whole persecution rages, cannot be taken away from them, either while they live or after they are killed, but they truly attest that whether we live, we live to the Lord, or whether we die, we die to the Lord. For whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. That, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah, a voice was heard in Rama, that is, high up, lamentation and great mourning (Jer. XXXI), plainly announces the grief of the holy Church, which grieves over the unjust death of its members, not as enemies murmur in vain yielding to empty despair, but rising up to the throne of the supreme Judge; and just as the blood of the protomartyr Abel, so too the blood of other martyrs cries from the ground to the Lord, according to the words of the wise man: Do not scorn the prayers of the orphan, nor the widow when she pours out her complaint. Do not the tears of the widow run down her cheek, and her cry against him that causes them to fall? From the cheek they ascend even to heaven, and the Lord the hearer does not rejoice in them (Ecclus. XXXV). That Rachel is said to have wept for her children and would not be comforted because they were not, signifies the Church mourning the removal of the saints from this world, but not wanting to be consoled in such a way as to bring back to the struggles of this world those who have conquered it through death, because they cannot be called back to this world, from whose trials they have once escaped, crowned with Christ. For Rachel, who is said to mean 'sheep' or 'seeing God,' figuratively demonstrates the Church, whose whole intent watches to be worthy to see God. And she is the hundredth sheep which the good shepherd, leaving the ninety-nine sheep of angelic virtues in heaven, went to seek on earth, and found placed on his shoulders, and so brought it back to the fold. It may be questioned, however, how Rachel is said to have wept for her children, since the tribe of Judah, which held Bethlehem, was not from Rachel but from her sister Leah. Here the answer is easy, for not only in Bethlehem, but in all its borders, all the infants were slaughtered. The tribe of Benjamin, which was from Rachel, was close to the tribe of Judah. Hence it is rightly believed that the blow of the most cruel slaughter involved not a few children of Benjaminitic lineage, whom the offspring of Rachel, raised with a loud cry, wept for. It may also be understood differently because Rachel was buried near Bethlehem, as indicated by the title of her monument remaining to this day, to the west of the city, beyond the road leading to Hebron: hence it is rightly said that she who was present in body and name in that place prophetically cried out for what was happening there.
The fact that the Lord Himself was taken by His parents to Egypt to avoid being killed by Herod signifies that the elect must often be taken away from their homes due to the wickedness of evil men or even condemned to exile. This also serves as an example to the faithful, so that they do not hesitate to evade the rage of persecutors by fleeing when it is opportune, remembering that their God and Lord did this. For He who was to command them, "When they persecute you in this city, flee to another," first did what He commanded by fleeing as a man, like a man on earth, whom shortly before a star from heaven had shown [to be divine]. The fact that Herod died not long after he had killed the children for the sake of the Lord, and that Joseph, warned by an angel, brought the Lord and His mother back to the land of Israel, signifies that all persecutions launched against the Church will be avenged by the death of the persecutors. When these persecutors are dealt with, peace will be restored to the Church, and the saints who had been hiding will return to their own places. Herod also, as a figure of the devil, rages and groans over losing the kingdom of his iniquity when people convert to Christ. Thus, if he kills infants, he seems to himself to be killing Jesus. He continuously tries to accomplish this by seizing the Holy Spirit from the newly reborn and attempting to extinguish the infancy of tender faith. We can also understand Herod’s hatred in wanting to destroy Jesus as representing the persecutions in Judea during the times of the apostles, especially when the preachers of the word, due to the great power of envy, were nearly all expelled from the province and scattered far and wide to preach among the gentiles. Thus, it happened that the gentiles, symbolized by Egypt, which was once darkened by sins, received the light of the word. This signifies that taking the child Jesus and His mother to Egypt through Joseph means that the faith in the Lord's incarnation and the fellowship of the Church were entrusted to the gentiles through the holy teachers. The fact that they stayed in Egypt until the death of Herod figuratively indicates that the faith of Christ would remain among the gentiles until the fullness of the gentiles comes in, and so all Israel will be saved. Indeed, Herod's death marks the end of the malicious intent that now rages against the Church by the Jews. The slaughter of the infants signifies the death of the lowly in spirit, whom the Jews killed after driving away Christ. But when Herod died, and [the Lord] returned to the land of Israel, it denotes the end of the world when, with Enoch and Elijah preaching, the Jews, the flame of modern envy extinguished, will accept the faith of the truth. It is fitting that when He departs from Judea, it is said to be at night, but when He returns, no mention of night or flight is made, because those whom He once left due to the darkness of their sins, He now revisits because of the light of their faith, seeking Him. Even though Herod is dead, Joseph, fearing Archelaus, Herod's son, dared not go to Judea, where he had his metropolis. Warned by an angel, he withdrew to Nazareth in Galilee. This signifies the end times of the present Church when, due to the present universal blindness of that nation, which persecutes Christians to the utmost of its power, a fiercer persecution by the Antichrist will arise in some places. And indeed, many, through the preaching of Enoch and Elijah, will turn from perfidy, but others, under the influence of Antichrist, will fight against the faith with all their might. Therefore, the part of Judea where Archelaus ruled represents the followers of Antichrist, while Nazareth in Galilee, where the Lord was taken, represents that part of the nation that will then embrace the faith of Christ. Hence, the transfer to Galilee is well executed, and Nazareth, meaning "flower" or "shoot," symbolizes it. Because as the holy Church migrates with greater ardor from worldly things to achieve heavenly ones, it flourishes more abundantly in the bloom and sprout of spiritual virtues. Therefore, beloved brothers, since we venerate the first martyrs in today's feast, let us diligently think about the eternal feast of martyrs in heaven. By following their footsteps as much as we can, let us also strive to be participants in that heavenly feast, as the Apostle testifies: "If we are partners in sufferings, we will also be partners in consolation." Let us not mourn their [unjust] death as much as we rejoice in their just reception of the palm [of martyrdom]. Each one of them, when driven by torment from this life, was followed with lament and tears by Rachel, that is, the holy Church that mourns, but departing from here, they were soon received by the heavenly Jerusalem, our mother, with joyful ministers, and were introduced into the eternal joy of their Lord, to be crowned perpetually. Thus says John: "They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands" (Rev. 7).
For now, those who once lay tormented before the thrones of earthly judges now stand crowned before the throne of God. They stand before the Lamb, unable to be separated from the sight of His glory, from whose love here they could not be torn away by any punishment. They shine in white robes and have palms in their hands, because they have rewards in their deeds, while the bodies which were torn for the Lord by fire and beasts, consumed by lashes, dissolved by precipices, scraped by claws, suffered by every kind of severe punishment, receive glorified bodies through the resurrection. And they cried out, he says, with a loud voice saying: Salvation to our God, who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb (Rev. VII). With a loud voice they sing of salvation to God, who with great thanksgiving they recall, not by their own strength but with His help, they overcame the struggles of attacking tribulations. He again describes their past combats and eternal crowns: These are the ones who came out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes, and whitened them in the blood of the Lamb (Ibid). For the martyrs washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, while their bodies, which to the eyes of the unwise seemed to be defiled by the squalor of punishment, rather thus by the blood poured out for Christ, cleansed from all impurities: moreover, they made them worthy of the blessed light of immortality, which is to have washed and also whitened the robes in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are, he says, before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. The service is not laborious, but loving and desirable, to always stand in the praises of God: for day and night do not signify the alternation of time properly, but symbolically signify perpetuity. For night will not be there, but one day in the courts of Christ better than thousands, in which Rachel does not weep for her children, but God wipes every tear from their eyes; giving the voice of joy and eternal salvation in the dwellings of the righteous to Him who lives and reigns God forever and ever. Amen.