＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊  

1 John 1:5 － 2:2

We heard his message

From him and announce it to you: God is light and there is no darkness in him.  If we say we are in fellowship with him, while we walk in darkness, we lie instead of being in truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we are in fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, purifies us from all sin.

 If we say, “We have no sin,” we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness. If we say that we do not sin, we make God a liar, his word is not in us.

 My little children, I write to you that you may not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an intercessor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Just One. He is the sacrificial victim for our sins and the sins of the whole world.

 

 

Ps 124 2-3, 4-5, 7b-8/

Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the fowler’s snare.

  

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊   

 Matthew 2:13-18

After the wise men had left, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will soon be looking for the child in order to kill him."

Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left that night for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. In this way, what the Lord had said through the prophet was fulfilled: I called my son out of Egypt.

 

When Herod found out that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was furious. He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its neighborhood who were two years old or under. This was done, according to what he had learned from the wise men about the time when the star appeared.

 

In this way, what the prophet Jeremiah had said was fulfilled: A cry is heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation: Rachel weeps for her children. She refuses to be comforted, for they are no more.

 

   Gospel Reflection：

The wise men, having found the child indicated by the star that appeared in the sky, are now going back home but using a different route. They could not retrace their steps. They have been renewed by the sight of the baby in the manger.

They come back with much more than they arrived with. The old roads that they travelled are things of the past. It is Herod who does not change. He has not seen the child. And so, when faced with disappointment he goes back to his old techniques of misusing his power and authority.

He resorts to violence, his favorite weapon against his enemies. The sad thing here is that he does not even know who his enemy is. That is why all children two years old and under must pay the price. The vulnerable ones always pay the price.

So today we honor the weak and the defenseless who pay the price for our foolishness. May the good Lord raise up men and women who will fight for them when they could not.

 

 what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: