Fr Jim Cogley
Today is the Feast of the Holy Innocents. When King Herod realized he had been outwitted by the Three Wise Men he initiated a bloodbath where all the male babies up to a certain age should be killed. He was an insecure ruler and typical of such leaders was prepared to destroy anyone who posed a threat to his power, even a newborn infant. It is a feature of the ego that it will go to any extremes in order to hold onto control. History had shown over and over that it doesn’t matter how many have to suffer and die so long as it can hold dominance. Putin has no care for how many will suffer and die in order to achieve his ego ideals. Today’s feast also points to the vulnerability of small beginnings. Everything begins as the seed of an idea that needs fertile ground. Its easy for a newly emerging sapling to be walked on and crushed. So many potentially great ideas become victims of Herod’s masacre. A single word of discouragement, or someone projecting their own fear of failure, or insecurity, onto a proposal can effectively kill it off before it ever sees the light. It’s so important to encourage and never to despise the day of small beginnings.
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