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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Bishop John Inge

Good morning.

Today, Holy Innocents’ Day, is an opportunity to remember all the children of today’s world who are caught up in and suffer from adult disputes of one sort or another. A UN report published earlier this year suggested that 2018 was the worst year on record for children caught up in conflict. There were 12,000 killed or maimed, the highest number since the United Nations began monitoring. It’s chilling to think that the world is so violent 2000 years after Jesus was born.

Shortly after his birth, King Herod heard about the birth of the king of the Jews. Feeling threatened, he ordered the slaughter of all boys under two years of age. Christians remember them now as the Holy Innocents. The gospel of Matthew records that, despite this horrific act the attempt was unsuccessful because Joseph and Mary had escaped to Egypt with the baby Jesus.

It’s easy for us to condemn all this appalling violence,. It’s right to do so but before trying to separate ourselves from it entirely we need to look into our own hearts. Jesus pointed out that evil intentions come from within, from the human heart. Are our lives a contribution to the peace of the world? That will depend on what is going on inside us. As St Francis said ‘As you announce peace with your mouth, make sure that you have greater peace in your hearts.’

Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.
Lead me from death to life,
from falsehood to truth;
lead me from despair to hope,
from fear to trust;
Lead me from hate to love,
from war to peace,
Let peace fill our hearts, our world, our universe.

Amen.