Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The Holy Innocents

Today our Roman Catholic brethren are observing the Feast of the Holy Innocents, where they recall the story from Matthew's gospel where Herod orders the massacre of male infants in an attempt to wipe out anyone who would usurp his throne.

While this historicity of this story is pretty doubtful (Matthew includes it to strengthen the theme of Jesus as the new Moses), it does remind us that throughout human history, even at this very moment, there are untold numbers of holy innocent children that suffer and die needlessly.

It's estimated that as many as 30,000 children die every single day all over the world from malnutrition and other hunger related conditions. As an American who consumes far more than my fair share of the world's resources, I'm led to conclude that in many ways, I stand in the shoes of Herod on this Feast of the Holy Innocents.

So today I'm making a small gesture to help those holy innocents, most of whom will not be remembered by the world. I'm making a donation to Bread for the World, which is a great organization helping to fight hunger all over the world.

If you could find a way today to make a gift to them or any other charity you deem worthy, those holy innocents who are forgotten by the world, but are precious in God's sight, will be very grateful.

1 comment:

Cindie said...

So Sad. There are many hungry and neglected children right here in America which is really hard to believe, in this day and age but I posted an article about it just the other day. Thanks for reminding us!