The Holy Innocents.

 Yesterday we remembered the fate of the Holy Innocents.   These were the babies that Herod, in a state of terror himself, sent out his soldiers to murder, hoping that the Messiha would be among those killed.   I have watched films depicting this horror and I have always been moved by the plight of the helpless babies.    The mothers suffered too as they trued to protect their children.   For is that not what a true woman does, protect and even die to protect her young.   These babies were created as we are to know God, love God and serve God in this world and to be happy with him forever in the next.

Yet even in the time of Jesus there were women trying to abort their children, or leaving them to die after birth.    Of course the woman were not all cold hearted, and I am sure there were many in very distressing circumstances, but there would be others who just wanted rid of the baby.   Their hearts for some reason had grown cold.   But the taking of a human life is against the Commandment of God 'Thou shall not kill" and from the beginning of the Church the act of Abortion was condemned.

In the UK in 1968 David Steel, passed through an Abortion Act.   Abortion could only be considered if 5 circumstances, which by the way is still the law.   The last one was in cases where there was a threat to the health of the woman.    It was not long before the 'health of the woman' filled every circumstance and despite the protestations from Mr Steele that his bill had not led to abortion on demand, it very much had.     But contraception in society had spread and many young people were taught in schools 'responsible sex' which meant you must make sure your sex partner did not get pregnant.    Of course as sex exploded among the young, not many really worried about being responsible.    It is interesting that at this time the Pope issued 'Humanae Vitae' which forbade the use of Contraception in the catholic Church.   Of course many catholic parents had tasted the delights of wealth and almost 'riches' that had grown up in the much wealthier post-war society.    With both parents working to enrich their family it was a 'hard sell' for having a baby was now a threat to that wealth.   The Church had also failed in its duty to provide guidance on family panning, and was offering no help.   I am sure that God will not judge that generation too harshly for the plight of the parents.     But there wee already signs that the young were no longer in tune with the Church.   Girls were the victims of boys who had not taken their 'responsibilities' too seriously, and the number of abortions ad single mothers who chose not to kill the child began to grow rapidly.    This had been predicted by the Pope in 'Humanae Vitae'.    But because of contraceptives unfaithfulness in Marriage began to grow and there was a rapid rise in the Divorce rate.   Individuals who had practiced sex with may partners found it hard to settle for one, and many marriages which were based on sexual attraction failed the test of love and the promises to stay together.   Again foretold in 'Humanae Vitae'    But the document was hardly read and Catholics were just swept along with a New Church which was emerging to go along with the secular state in all these issues.    I remained faithful to the Church and perhaps my saddest moment was at a Catechist meeting when one leading Catechist, after a talk by a heretic hired by the then bishop to foster the New :Church, stated to us all "The Church will have to change its teachings on Contraception, Divorce and Abortion"    No wonder the Blessed Sacrament was being taken from the main altar and put to the side or hid in a safe rather than a tabernacles, or just put into another room.   It was not just false doctrine that destroyed the young.   They heard from their parents who had been brought up in the Church and knew they we being taught falsely, no matter how friendly, interesting, or "I'm on your side" the priest or teacher tried to be.   They left the Church in droves.  "O they return", said the pompous prelates, but they do not"     Today, the betrayal of young people in Catholic Schools continues.   We need a miracle to save them.   For though the bodies of babies in the womb are being destroyed, the destructions of the hopes and dreams of so many of our young people, the destruction of their souls  is of greater importance.   For they may never see God.