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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Cardinal Vincent Nichols

The Feast of the Holy Innocents

Good Morning, There is a heavy cloud over these days of festivities, that of conflict and war. Even in the midst of our celebrations we cannot forget the suffering of so many. And children are always the most innocent victims of warfare. This we have seen, with heart-rendering sadness, in Israel and in Gaza and conflicts across the globe.

Today in the Church we keep the feast of the Holy Innocents, those children murdered in cold blood because the powers that be feared for their future. Today we might think of the woman of the Old Testament of the Bible, Rachel, weeping for her children, a figure repeated so many times in these last months.

Let us know a time of sadness today as we think of the innocent victims of war, of parents whose hearts are broken, of every callous destruction of innocent life.

Again, we turn to the vulnerable baby in the cave of cattle in Bethlehem. He has come to embrace the broken-hearted and to carry the soul of every lost child into the arms his loving Father. This too, is part of the Christmas message. Just so our Christmas greetings are never an expression of escapism but of profound love in the midst of all the sadness and tragedy of our world. For the child Jesus too, will be led to the slaughter. He will embrace it, make it his sacrifice, for the sake of the world and of all humanity.

We pray for all victims of war and conflict. We pray for the broken hearted. We pray that they may find solace in the promise of eternal life.

Amen.