- Psalmody: Psalm 8:2a; 1a; Psalm 124:7a, 7b–8; Liturgical Text; Psalm 124:7; Matthew 2:18
- Lection: Exodus 1:8–22; Revelation 14:1–5; Matthew 2:13b–18
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
St. Lawrence was a Christian martyr who lived, and died, in the third century under great persecution of the Church by the Roman Emperor Valerian. In the period leading up to his death by being burned alive atop a grill like a steak, many other Christians had been rounded up and put to death, including the pope and multiple priests. The emperor, being greedy for the Church’s money, hoped to gain its treasures for himself. Thus, prior to his martyrdom, St. Lawrence… was summoned before a magistrate and ordered to turn over to him, in the stern judge’s words “the treasures of the Church.” Lawrence, interpreting the magistrate’s words with utmost seriousness, gathered together the impoverished, the disabled, the widowed, the orphaned, the sick, and the elderly, and brought them before the court. The magistrate, enraged by the commotion, demanded that Lawrence explain himself, to which the deacon replied: “Sir, I have provided you with precisely what you have asked for.” And then motioning towards the people he had gathered, Lawrence exclaimed, “See here the eternal treasure, which never diminishes but increases. It is divided among these people and is found in all of them, for their hands have carried the treasure off to heaven!” (taken from wordonfire.org and aleteia.org)
The treasures that the Church possesses are the people which Christ has brought into Her by His mighty salvation. The same goes for worldly domains: the wealth of the nations lies in people, yet as we hear in Exodus and in the Gospel of St. Matthew, man’s corrupt and wicked heart works eagerly to distort and destroy that which is made in God’s image: people, who, with the exception of only Adam and Eve, come first in the form of precious little babies. God loves babies. He Himself became one and rested in the Virgin Mother’s arms as He was whisked away by night to Egypt after Joseph had been warned in a dream of Herod seeking to end the Christ Child’s life. The heavenly Father loved the incarnate Son and delighted that His hour of sacrifice, of laying down His life for the salvation of the whole world, would come three decades later. But His hour as the Child had not yet come and His life had to be preserved until the appointed time.
Due to the evil of Herod then, this meant the death of the Holy Innocents, of the little people, of the innocent little boys in Bethlehem who bore the wrath of a despicable tyrant; their blood was shed for the sake of Christ. They died so that Christ might live; so that He might live to return later to die for them and for us all. Their death gained for Him extended temporal life. His death gained for them endless heavenly life and vindication. Therefore, the wickedness and blame lies not on God allowing the slaughter of the Holy Innocents to take place, but on Herod’s serpentine head for carrying it out. We see that even in this, God works all things together for good to those who love Him, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
We must not be wicked or deceived into despising life the way that Pharaoh, Herod, and Emperor Valerian did with dark, murderous hearts and viewpoints. Pharaoh saw, even with unbelieving pagan eyes, that the strength and blessing of the captive people of Israel came in their multiplication, in their procreation, in their having babies. He conspired against the male children, the physical strength among Israel that he saw as a looming threat. Our modern-day diabolical embrace of abortion doesn’t even distinguish that much, but indiscriminately snuffs out life in the womb before the baby can see the light of day mostly in order to preserve beastly pleasure and avoid inconvenience.
Abortion is the intentional ending of a life conceived in the womb; that of a baby, that of a human being, that of a person formed by God’s design. Abortion is murder, plain and simple. We need no political party to determine for us what the Lord says about life, for His word gives no exceptions or allowances at all for the murder of babies. Regardless of any sinfulness that brings about conception, the truth still stands that human life has been conceived and to end it intentionally in any circumstance is murder, whether it is carried out by forceps, scalpel, or pill. It is murder compounded, added to the situation. Any truly godly politician, president, ruler, influencer, or person with say, will condemn abortion as a sin with no exceptions. We must stop bargaining with evil. Many things in life stand and are called to have no compromise made with them. We do not make deals with the devil. We, all who are able to speak and exchange these ideas as having not been aborted ourselves, are but given to confess God’s truth about life and to support and defend it whenever and wherever we can. The basic status of life and God’s commandments concerning it stand firm and clear for us but to trust and obey the very Creator of all life Himself. There is no inconvenience for us greater than the stain of murder that we invite by our support of abortion or participation of baby slaughter. There is no financial hardship or condition of the world that we in our foolish-thinking-we’re-wiser-than-God minds can then deem murder to be the best option. More presumptuous sin is never a good or godly remedy to what has already been done. Let us follow neither the way of Herod nor of Pharaoh in our minds, in our hearts, in our votes, in our donations, but support and value life as Christ Himself does, for He has given up His own for that of every conceived sinner.
Deeming abortion as a great and grievous sin perpetuated among us in our day should be easy for us to do, especially us Christians. But many in the Church condone it as its advocates, its defenders, its unholy priests and priestesses celebrate and flaunt it for the sake of preserving sexual perversion. How vigorously it is pursued and protected as a “right” shows it to be a sacrament of Satan, a means of gaining favor from him who is evil and a liar and a murderer from the beginning. We rejoiced when Roe was overturned, yet abortions have since increased because many states, including our own so-believed “red state”, having authority returned to them, expanded abortion efforts, as if inspired by Pharaoh himself. What is it that our age has against itself? Why are we so foolish to think that murdering the next generation could ever be a good thing? Love of self has grown far, far too grand. Ironically, it is the land of Pharaoh, modern-day Egypt, that is one of the very few countries in the world where abortion is illegal. America is not as prosperous a nation as we think when we are the ones intentionally killing off our greatest treasure: babies.
This also calls for us in the Church to examine our hearts on additional matters pertaining to procreation, to being fruitful and multiplying as God has commanded. Children are a blessing, they are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate. God gives man woman and woman man to establish a home, to be husband and wife, to be fruitful and multiply. The Psalms also tell us For You [, O LORD,] formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. … Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. Children are precious and priceless. If every child is formed by God and His gift of life, and if He has given us the sacred union of marriage in which to embrace every gift that He gives by it, then it is a sin not to want children. It is a sin to use contraception, to avoid marital pregnancies, to interject our ways and desires above those of God. Let not this mindset be counted among us! Let us turn from worldly wisdom, from the tenets of the post-Enlightenment sexual revolution that exalt pleasure, convenience, personal preference, career, and money above children, and instead embrace the Lord’s teachings, His love, His support for babies in all aspects and godliness. He adores life. He died for it.
Yea, Christ is the comfort for all who see, who feel, who hurt, who mourn from what these evil views about children have done to us. Sins leave scars and deep wounds, but there is relief in Christ for those who have despised babies in any of these ways, for He came to forgive sin. His blood is pure and holy enough to wash away every stain of sin. His sacrifice was sufficient enough for even Pharaoh and Herod to have been redeemed had they repented and trusted in the Lord for forgiveness, life, and salvation. God is merciful and good. Jesus promises that the one who comes to Him He will by no means cast out. If you have sinned by not wanting children, repent and turn to your merciful Savior and make His loving heart for children now your own. Pray for the children, along with the fathers, mothers, and siblings, that he has placed into your life. Encourage them with Christ’s words and with His love, knowing that yes, indeed, Jesus loves the little children. If you have sinned by support of or participation in abortion, repent and look into the heart of Christ, for the Child Who escaped to Egypt fled not from His hour on that blessed Friday when He died for all your sins. Take comfort in the promise of His Word that proclaims your escape from sin’s condemnation for His sake, for He was condemned for you. Take comfort that a child cast aside is not cast aside by Christ. He has His Father’s heart that reaches out with infinite mercy and Who promises that an aborted child does not bear the iniquity of the father, nor of the mother. May you forever rejoice that God brought about forgiveness from the midst of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents, that by the slaughter of Christ He purges us of our iniquity, of our sins, washing us whiter than snow by Jesus’ shed blood. May you forever rejoice in His mercy that He richly pours out upon you for the sake of the holy blood poured out on Golgotha. It was the no-escape ransom for your soul to which the Child escaped, so that we all may now value children, that we all may value life, that we all may value people, big and small alike, as the true treasures of God’s Church.
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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