You're listening to I Pray with the Gospel on the St. Jose Maria Institute podcast.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me.

I adore you with profound reverence.

I ask your pardon for my sins and the grace to make this time of prayer fruitful.

My immaculate mother, St. Joseph, my father and Lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

The Feast of the Holy Innocence

A reading from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 2.

An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,

Rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you,

for Herod is about to search for the child and destroy him.

And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt.

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem, and in all that region,

who were two years old and under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men.

We call martyrs those saints who choose to give their lives for Jesus Christ.

These innocent children also gave their lives, but they didn't choose to. They were chosen for martyrdom. For centuries, innocent lives have been taken, and people can't help asking why.

The suffering of innocent children is still a scandal in our human hearts.

That happened during World War II in a concentration camp.

The Nazi guards decided one day to hang a child in front of thousands of prisoners in formation.

Ellie Weissel, who writes the story, explains that the child was so light that he hanged,

struggling the gasp, for more than an hour.

Where is God now? asked one of those prisoners forced to contemplate the suffering of the child.

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