Happy God-blessed and Sustainable 2020!
Today, December 28, we remember the massacre of the innocent, male children in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16). This Feast of the Holy Innocents is also referred to as Childermas. Soon after the Child was born, King Herod ordered the death of children where Christ was born.
Childermas after Christmas.
Wailing after the joy, death after Christ’s birth – all because of a jealous king afraid to lose his earthly position, his earthly power. Death and massacre of the innocent because of a power-obsessed, greedy, envious, insecure, and resentful king.
Sounds familiar? Fast forward to our present world.
How many innocent children are slaughtered in the midst of adult-created conflict? How many children are in the crossfire of warring nations? How many children are left to die, unprotected, uncared for throughout the world, in our country? How many innocent children are deprived of breath and life because of the insecurity, the greed, and pride of the powerful and abusive?
"A voice was heard in Ramah: wailing and great mourning. Rachel was crying for her children. She refused to be comforted, because they no longer existed." (Matthew 2:18).
How long must wailing last because of the death of the innocent?
This hope, this promise: “Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning (Psalm 30:5). “And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist [any] longer, and mourning or wailing or pain will not exist [any] longer. The former [things] have passed away." (Revelation 21:4).
Will joy come in the morning? Will morning dawn at all?
Pope Francis urges us on: “Never lose hope, continue to believe, always, in spite of everything. Hope opens new horizons, making us capable of dreaming what is not even imaginable.”
Can we allow ourselves, as Pope Francis encourages us, “to see, to feel, to understand the beauty of what lies ahead, of that homeland towards which we walk?”
And as we look back to an old year ending, shall we remember and allow the pains and tears of the past, the abuses of the proud powerful, the cry of an ailing world and planet to pass on to the coming years?
Shall we stay deaf to the cries of the poor, including the tribal people and all other oppressed about their “fear, shame, helplessness, depression, isolation, and voicelessness whose daily struggle to survive creates feeling of desperation, anxiety, and suffocation?”
A few more days left for 2019.
Thankfully, a new year is coming. A new beginning, a whole year for hope and plans to be fulfilled! While difficult, shall we leave and throw the negativities of the past year and lift all burdens, let go. And let God?
His promise. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
We do not know what tomorrow will bring but this we know: God was with us, is with us, and will be with us always.
And so, on we go to meet the New Year! Happy 2020 to one and all!
One joked: “Aren’t you excited? In the New Year, everyone will see better. 20/20!”
May 2020 allow us better vision to achieve a genuine prosperous, peaceful planet for all people! May we move on together, through partnerships, to bring all to a more sustainable world, leaving no one behind. No to poverty, hunger, yes to health, education, equality for all ages and genders!
Yes to a happy God-blessed sustainable 2020 everyone!
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