December 28

December 28 - The Holy Innocents, Martyrs

When they had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him." Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, "Out of Egypt I called my son." When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi (Matthew 2: 13-16).

This shows us how evil we can become when we do not control our anger and our pride. We get so full of ourselves that we do things we would never ordinarily think of doing.

Christ Jesus, give me the strength of the virtue of self-discipline that I may control myself in times of difficulty.

Impact Sports: Have I ever done something when I was very angry that afterwards I really regretted?

Impact Life: Have I ever visited someone in the hospital during my Christmas vacation?