The Light and the darkness

I hope you’re having a Merry Christmas. That greeting sounds strange at the beginning of a post about a day devoted to the Holy Innocents. After all the joy of Christmas Eve and Day, and the celebration honoring the Holy Family, now we have this. In honor of the day I’ll share some artwork I’ve found while gathering art for the Rosary Project, and a couple of video commentaries I found, too. What an utterly shocking feast day the Massacre of the Holy Innocents always is. These paintings capture that well, I think. The one above shows the Holy Family in the upper corners. The one below gets to me. It’s hard for me to say more about it right now. I will say, look at the baby’s right side. There’s a wound there already. Foreshadowing?

Video, The Holy Innocents, Martyrs (Feast)

Video, Curtis Mitch, The Dark Story of the Nativity. See notes for more about Curtis Mitch.

I love this painting by Rubens (below), all those poor little babies who were slaughtered. The thought of the Blessed Mother surrounded by all those holy little souls makes my heart melt and it makes me cry. I don’t understand what kind of man can do such a thing, the men who were sent to kill them and did. How could they do it? How can anyone kill a baby? Such evil! That image by Poussin gets to me every time I see it. I stare at it, wanting to but unable to turn away, held fast by a horrible and horrified fascination.

When the Light came into the world,
some in the world welcomed the Light with joy and adoration,
and some of the world met that Light with a barbarous darkness,
but the darkness could not overcome Him.

Thank you for visiting and reading. Until next time, whoever and wherever you are, please stay safe and well, and virtuous and holy. May the Lord bless and keep you and yours, and may His peace be always with you. May you have a very Merry Christmas, filled with Light and Joy, remembering the true reason for our Hope. God love you! +JMJ+

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Notes and Links

Video, The Holy Innocents.
Video, The Dark Story of the Nativity, by Curtis Mitch, the principal annotator and associate editor of the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (Ignatius Press).

Images: The Massacre of the Innocents, one by Lodovico Mazzolino, one by Nicolas Poussin, and one by Guido Reni. The Virgin and the Holy Innocents, by Peter Paul Rubens. All from Wikimedia Commons, public domain. (I adjusted the color on the Rubens. The image was very yellow.)

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