From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   December 28th - Holy Innocents MM (RM)   
      
   "O martyrs, young and fresh as flowers,   
   Your day was in its morning hours   
   When Christ was sought and your were found   
   Like rain-strewn petals on the ground."   
      
   -Prudentius, Salvete, flores martyrum   
      
   Herod the son of Antipater was designated procurator of Judea by Julius   
   Caesar   
   and king under Augustus Caesar. He ruled from 47 BC to 2 AD, and was   
   therefore   
   king when Jesus was born.   
   Herod assumed the title 'the Great.' Yet his was fanatically determined to   
   stamp   
   out any messianic threat to his throne. When he learned from the three Magi   
   who   
   had come to worship the infant Jesus that 'a ruler shall come from Bethlehem   
   who   
   will govern my people Israel,' he decided to kill the child. The Magi,   
   warned in   
   a dream not to tell Herod where to find Jesus, returned to the East by a   
   different way (Matt. 2:1-12). In his rage King Herod decreed that every male   
   child under two years old in Bethlehem and that region should be killed   
   (Matt.   
   2:16-18).   
      
   Only because Joseph had been warned by a dream that this would happen and   
   accordingly fled with his wife and Jesus to Egypt was the Savior spared   
   (Matt.   
   2:13-15). The other innocent children were put to the sword. This is one of   
   the   
   seven sorrows of Mary: to realize the hatred others would have of her Son   
   and   
   Lord; to understand that saving her own baby led to the death of others.   
      
   The Holy Innocents were of the same land and same age as the little Jesus,   
   nearly 18 months old. Some were walking, their legs too far apart. They were   
   beginning to say papa and mama. They were beautiful-each one more beautiful   
   than   
   the other. It was the flower of Bethlehem, these children who already were   
   making their mothers smile.   
      
   The number killed under Herod's order has often been exaggerated.   
   Commentators   
   has estimated that there were perhaps between six and 25 male children under   
   the   
   age of two who would have been found around Bethlehem at that time. Yet   
   Herod's   
   savagery has become a deep historical memory. He later had his own son   
   murdered,   
   so that Augustus Caesar allegedly said, "Better to be Herod's pig than   
   Herod's   
   son."   
      
   It is the custom in Bethlehem for Christian children to gather in the church   
   of   
   the Nativity every afternoon and sing a hymn in memory of the 'flowers of   
   martyrdom,' who bore witness to the Messiah whom they did not know. The   
   feast of   
   the Holy Innocents has been kept in the West from the 4th century: They are   
   considered to be martyrs because they not only died for Christ but instead   
   of   
   Christ. In Jerome's Martyrology they are called "the holy babes and   
   sucklings";   
   in the Calendar of Carthage, simply "the infants." Their relics are claimed   
   by   
   English and French churches.   
      
   In this feast the Church honors all who die in a state of innocence and   
   consoles   
   parents of dead children with the conviction that these also will share the   
   glory of the infant companions of Jesus (Attwater, Bentley, Encyclopedia,   
   Farmer).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   He who goes about to take the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass from the Church   
   plots   
   no less a calamity than if he tried to snatch the sun from the universe.   
   -St. John Fisher   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who is against us?   
   (Romans 8:31)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Litany of The Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ   
      
   This Litany in honor of Jesus in His Most Precious Blood was drawn up   
   by the Sacred Congregation of Rites and promulgated by Pope John   
   XXIII on February 24, 1960.  The devotion to Jesus in His most Precious   
   Blood was first popularized by St. Gaspar del Bufalo (1786-1837) who   
   founded the Missioners of the Most Precious Blood.  A partial indulgence   
   is granted to the faithful who recite this litany.   
      
      
   Lord, have mercy.  Lord, have mercy.   
   Christ, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy.   
   Lord, have mercy.  Lord, have mercy.   
   Christ, hear us.  Christ, hear us.   
   Christ, graciously hear us.  Christ, graciously hear us.   
   God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.   
   God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.   
   God, the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.   
   Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.   
   Blood of Christ, only-begotten Son of the eternal Father, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, Incarnate Word of God, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, of the New and Eternal Testament, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, falling upon the earth in Agony, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, shed profusely in the Scourging, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, flowing forth in the Crowning with Thorns, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, price of our salvation, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, stream of mercy, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, victor over demons, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, courage of Martyrs, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, strength of Confessors, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, bringing forth Virgins, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, help of those in peril, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, relief of the burdened, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, solace in sorrow, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, hope of the penitent, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, consolation of the dying, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, peace and tenderness of hearts, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, pledge of eternal life, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, freeing souls from purgatory, save us.   
   Blood of Christ, most worthy of all glory and honor, save us.   
   Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.   
   Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O   
   Lord.   
   Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, have mercy on us, O   
   Lord.   
      
   V.  Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, in Thy Blood.   
   R.  And made us, for our God, a kingdom.   
      
   Let us pray; Almighty and eternal God, Thou hast appointed Thine only-   
   begotten Son the Redeemer of the world and willed to be appeased by   
   his blood.  Grant, we beg of Thee, that we may worthily adore this price   
   of our salvation and through its power be safeguarded from the evils of   
   the present life so that we may rejoice in its fruits forever in heaven.   
   Through the same Christ our Lord.   
   Amen   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)