"A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they were no more." Twenty thousand Holy Innocents were senselessly slain by a wicked psychopath....How can we modern, enlightened Christians even BEGIN to comprehend such blatant barbarism? And--for that matter--how could a loving God even have ALLOWED such an atrocity? At least here the answer is simple--God created us in His image, not as automatons, with the gift of free will, but as fallen creatures, we are capable of all manner of wickedness. And THIS us why bad things happen to good people.
Besides....Are not those twenty thousand Holy Innocents part of that "vast cloud of witnesses" referred to in St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews? Are they not, indeed, counted as martyrs glorified in God's heavenly Kingdom? For though they suffered for a short time, their eternal recompense defies the comprehension of the human mind.
But, oh my!.... We are so much more ENLIGHTENED now in this modern age. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World has dawned! The idea that we must SUFFER and ENDURE UNTO THE END that we may be made worthy of the good things to come is just so Passe! Oh yes, of course, there are the millions of innocents slain by the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Idi Amin. But we are Americans--and we are Christians! We are the City on the Hill, the light to enlighten the Gentiles, ordained by God Himself to spread the Gospel of American-style "democracy" throughout the world (by force, if necessary).
But, oh my!....There is the inconvenient truth that since Roe vs. Wade, over fifty eight million holy innocents have been slain upon the altar of "freedom" and convenience. (And after all, does a woman not have the right to control her own body?)
Of course as faithful Orthodox Christians, we are dutifully opposed to abortion, but as Americans, we are complicit in this ongoing, "lawful" slaughter. We may click our tongues disdainfully and click "like" on anti-abortion memes on the internet, but for the most part, I think we really just don't get it. Yes, we are quick to agree, abortion is technically murder (the Holy Fathers tell us so), but somehow I think we have a sense that to murder an unborn child in the womb is not exactly the same as murdering a fully grown person.
And in a sense, this is true. At least that fully grown person had the opportunity to experience life outside the womb, while an unborn child is not even given the chance to see the light of day. The bottom line is, abortion is monstrous and there is no way whatsoever it can be justified. So what can we ordinary citizens do about it?....I'm not sure....That is up to each individual to decide. But at least let us not be complacent. Let us look the beast in the eye and admit that to some extent, each and everyone of us bears responsibility for the tragic evil occurring in our world today.
