Fr. Michael Williams

Last Tuesday we celebrated the joyful birth of Our Lord. God became man, so that we could share in His own divine life. But before we can share His divine life, He shares in our human life. And to share in human life is to live in family life and to experience -for better and for worse- the close interaction between persons; to experience the joys and the sorrows of family living. Jesus, in His family with Mary and Joseph, experiences the full range of family life. And it t is within the context of His family life that, ‘the child Jesus grew to maturity, and He was filled with wisdom and God’s favour was with Him’. The family is the place where faith in God is to be nurtured.

Today’s gospel from St Matthew reveals a perennial reality. Namely, that the powers of darkness that exist in our fallen world, are always trying to scupper God’s plans of salvation. The angel says to Joseph, ‘Herod intends to search for the child and do away with Him’. Joseph then shows His fatherly and spousal role, by setting about protecting Jesus and Mary by taking them to Egypt. Joseph reveals the true nature of his role in his family by his actions, which are driven by his love for the child and for the mother.

Matthew’s gospel also reveals that King Herod had all the male infants of Bethlehem killed in an attempt to get rid of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Herod destroys these little ones’ lives on earth, but they are raised up in Heaven as saints- the Holy Innocents. Understandably, the deaths of these little ones causes great sorrow and pain, but beyond this suffering world they are with God in glory, free from the clutches of the wicked forever. In our day we are still thinking about innocent children having to suffer at the hands of the wicked. Rhys Jones and Madeleine McCann are two high profile examples, but there are many others. We entrust them all to the God made man who once said, ‘let the little children come to me; do not stop them for it is to such as these that the Kingdom of God belongs’.

Just a few days after Jesus’ birthday celebration we are thinking about suffering and the cross, yet we can never think of this without thinking of what follows suffering and cross, namely the Resurrection, where evil and death are destroyed forever, and the glory of Heavenly life is revealed. The powers of darkness are still trying to scupper God’s plans in our day. They ultimately fail, because even though they have a certain amount of power, they are nothing compared to God’s power. Although the forces of evil do cause mayhem along the roads of this world, they are doomed. Because Our Lord came down from Heaven because He did not want to abandon us to the powers of darkness that infect our world. Our Lord came down from Heaven, became part of a family and extended it so that we are all members of that family where God is Father of all in the Kingdom of Heaven.