LIVE IT TODAY: Sunday, December 28, 2025 | Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs
I see every innocent life, every hidden sacrifice, and nothing offered in love is ever lost.
Christmas Blessings!
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We wish you and your family abundant Christmas blessings!
LIVE IT TODAY: Sunday, December 28, 2025 | Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs
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GOD’S DECLARATION TO YOU TODAY
I see every innocent life, every hidden sacrifice, and nothing offered in love is ever lost.
INVOCATION
Come, Holy Spirit! Through the intercession of Our Blessed Mother Mary, open my heart to hear and receive all that You desire for me. Draw me ever more deeply into the Love and Life of the Blessed Trinity!
GOSPEL | Matthew 2:13–15, 19–23
When the magi 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 had died, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream
to Joseph in Egypt and said,
“Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel,
for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”
He rose, took the child and his mother,
and went to the land of Israel.
But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea
in place of his father Herod,
he was afraid to go back there.
And because he had been warned in a dream,
he departed for the region of Galilee.
He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth,
so that what had been spoken through the prophets
might be fulfilled,
He shall be called a Nazorean.
EVERY DAY QUESTION
What struck you? Challenged you? Inspired you? What questions did it raise?
GOING DEEPER
God enters a violent world not by force, but by faithful obedience entrusted to parents.
The Feast of the Holy Innocents shatters any illusion that Christmas is sentimental. Hard on the heels of angels and manger songs comes bloodshed, fear, and flight. The Child who is Light from Light enters a world that immediately tries to extinguish Him. Salvation history does not unfold in safety; it unfolds in obedience.
Joseph is the quiet center of this Gospel. He does not speak a word, yet his actions protect the Savior of the world. He rises in the night. He takes the child and his mother. He flees. Fatherhood here is not symbolic—it is decisive, costly, and urgent. God entrusts His Son to a man willing to act without delay.
Matthew is deliberate in showing that Jesus retraces Israel’s story. “Out of Egypt I called my son” is not merely prophecy fulfilled; it is identity revealed. The true Son passes through exile, danger, and return. Redemption comes not by avoiding suffering, but by passing through it under the Father’s guidance.
The slaughter of the innocent exposes the brutality of power divorced from truth. Herod represents a world that grasps, controls, and destroys to preserve itself. The Innocents represent lives taken without voice or choice—yet the Church names them martyrs. Their witness is silent, but it is real. They stand forever before God as testimony that evil does not have the final word.
This Gospel presses directly into our homes. Parents are not promised ease, only responsibility. The domestic church is forged in decisions made when sleep is scarce, fear is real, and the path forward is unclear. Obedience, not certainty, becomes the measure of faithfulness.
We parents are called to guard life—physical, spiritual, and moral—with the same vigilance Joseph shows. We discern. We listen. We act. We refuse the lies that say our choices do not matter or that the culture is too strong to resist. We build saint-forming homes by protecting innocence, naming truth, and praying over our children by name, trusting God more than circumstance.
“The flight into Egypt and the massacre of the innocents make manifest the opposition of darkness to the light.” (CCC 530)
LIFE APPLICATION QUESTIONS
In My Heart: Where am I tempted to avoid hard obedience out of fear or exhaustion?
In My Home: How can we better protect innocence and foster trust in God amid cultural pressure?
In My World: Where is God asking me to defend life quietly but decisively?
FAMILY LIVE IT
Make some time today to gather together and, going around, share one way your family can better protect what is good, true, and vulnerable.
Then, one by one, pray over each person by name, asking for an outpouring of grace to know God’s love personally, freedom from the whispers and lies of the Enemy, strength to overcome temptation, and courage to choose obedience even when it is costly.
Daily Challenge:
Make one concrete choice today that protects innocence—what you watch, say, allow, or ignore—and offer it to God in trust.
DAILY PARENT & GRANDPARENT BLESSING
LORD JESUS CHRIST, let Your holy anointing be upon each of our children, grandchildren, and godchildren this day and week, including all to whom they are called in vocation, and all future generations! In Your Sacred Name we claim them for You! We renounce all whispers, lies, and influences of the Enemy! We pray right now that each know Your loving Presence, be forged in virtue, and be flooded with an abundance of Your Holy Spirit to live fully their identity and mission in You now and through all eternity, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother! Amen.
PARENT BLESSING PROJECT: bit.ly/ParentBlessing
GOING VERTICAL
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
Just as the vertical beam upholds the horizontal beam of the Cross, so too does undistracted, dedicated daily turning to God as our lifeblood uphold and strengthen every part of life. Start with just three minutes. Wait patiently for the breakthrough beyond the noise. Let Him speak.
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