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ognized the mystery of gentiles as coheirs and copartners, the Spirit touched the
gentile magi with a holy longing for the one for whom the star’s light was destined:
the Perfect Light.
What of gratitude for the life of Herod? I see in him my own fear and ambition
made large because the Perfect Light of the gospel reveals my shadow side in a new
way. For that insight, I am grateful, but uneasy. For this is the Harod, afflicted
with lethal ambition and fear who, when he learned that the magi had deceived
him, ordered the slaughter of infant males in and about Bethlehem. The Church
remembers this event as the Feast of the Holy Innocents (Dec. 28), coincidentally
my wedding anniversary. I am grateful because the day prompts reexamination of
my conscience upon the consistent life ethic.
I am grateful that the Perfect Light will render perfect justice
unto Harod. I am grateful that even those who kill holy inno-
cents may be forgiven, as Pope Francis has reminded us re-
cently. I am grateful that Harod, a mass murderer, is not be-
yond God’s merciful love.
And so in the spirit of the magi, wise in knowing their own
shadows, I prostrate myself before the Perfect Light incarnate
in a baby, the
Imago Dei
, and I pray.
Prayer
For the wisdom to see the light and the courage to follow it,
so that I may prostrate my broken and blessed life before the
Perfect Light whose justice is perfect, whose mercy is perfect,
and whose love transforms my dust into living gold, frankin-
cense, and myrrh for praise of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
______
Phil Argento,
Eucharistic Minister