A
tiny child is born, who is a great king. Wise men are led to him from
afar. They come to adore one who lies in a manger and yet reigns in
heaven and on earth. When they tell of one who is born a king, Herod
is disturbed. To save his kingdom he resolves to kill him, though if
he would have faith in the child, he himself would reign in peace in
this life and for ever in the life to come.
Why
are you afraid, Herod, when you hear of the birth of a king? He does
not come to drive you out, but to conquer the devil. But because you
do not understand this you are disturbed and in a rage. To destroy
one child whom you seek, you show your cruelty in the death of so
many children.
You
are not restrained by the love of weeping mothers and fathers
mourning the deaths of their sons, nor by the cries and sobs of the
children. You destroy those who are tiny in body because fear is
destroying your heart. You imagine that if you accomplish your desire
you can prolong you own life, though you are seeking to kill Life
himself.
The
children die for Christ, though they do not know it. The parents
mourn for the death of martyrs. The Christ child makes of those as
yet unable to speak fit witnesses to himself. But you, Herod, do not
know this and are disturbed and furious. While you vent your fury
against the child, you are already paying him homage, and do not know
it.
To
what merits of their own do the children owe this kind of victory?
They cannot speak, yet they bear witness to Christ. They cannot use
their limbs to engage in battle, yet already they bear off the palm
of victory.
– Saint
Quodvultdeus from
a sermon onThe Holy Innocents
