Holy Families = Safe Children

Usually on December 28 the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Innocents when Herod, discovering that he had been deceived by the Magi, orders that all boys two years old and younger in the city of Bethlehem be slaughtered to ensure that the newborn King of the Jews will never be a threat to his dynasty.

However, since this day falls on a Sunday, we celebrate instead the Feast of the Holy Family. Rather than commemorate the slaughter of innocents, we reflect on the hidden years Jesus enjoyed as he grew in wisdom and strength with Mary and Joseph in Nazareth. And we reflect on the calling of the family to be a "nest" where life is welcomed and nurtured and where children, under the watchful care of their parents, can themselves grow in wisdom and strength.

I think there is a lesson for us in the fact that the Feast of the Holy Family displaces the Feast of the Holy Innocents this year. Simply put, holy families prevent the slaughter of the innocent. The best way to protect children and to ensure that they are not abused or neglected is to strengthen families. There is no doubt that children who are born to stable families do better in every way.

In his Christmas homily this year, Pope Benedict XVI made a special point of calling the world's attention to the suffering of children and the responsibility of Christians to address it. Boston's archdiocesan newspaper, the Pilot, offered a helpful summary of his words:

'Let us think of those street children who do not have the blessing of a family home, of those children who are brutally exploited as soldiers and made instruments of violence, instead of messengers of reconciliation and peace,' he said.

'Let us think of those children who are victims of the industry of pornography and every other appalling form of abuse and thus are traumatized in the depths of their soul,' he said.

He said the infant Jesus 'summons us once again to do everything in our power to put an end to the suffering of these children. The world will change for the better only when people accept Jesus and experience a change of heart,' he said.

Everyday, roughly 3000 children are lost to abortion in the United States and 30,000 to poverty and disease around the world. The only hope of putting an end to such carnage is to displace this slaughter of innocents with holy families.