諸聖嬰孩（慶日）
賢士們離去後，看，上主的天使托夢顯於若瑟說：「起來，帶著嬰孩和他的母親逃往埃及去，住在那裏，直到我再通知你，因為黑落德即將尋找這嬰孩，要把他殺掉。」若瑟便起來，星夜帶了嬰孩和他的母親，退避到埃及去了。留在那裏，直到黑落德死去。這就應驗了上主藉先知所說的話：「我從埃及召回了我的兒子。」
那時，黑落德見自己受了賢士們的愚弄，就大發忿怒，依照他由賢士們所探得的時期，差人將白冷及其周圍境內所有兩歲及兩歲以下的嬰兒殺死，於是應驗了耶肋米亞先知所說的話：「在辣瑪聽到了聲音，痛哭哀號不止；辣黑耳痛哭她的子女，不願受人的安慰，因為他們不在了。」
瑪竇福音 2:13-18
耶穌聖嬰獲得了賢士的尊崇，並非基於祂肉身的力量，而是出於祂神聖的恩寵。這令當時為王的黑落德大發忿怒，並且害怕自己的皇位受到威脅，於是命令人將白冷和其境內所有兩歲及以下的嬰兒殺死，令無數跟救主耶穌同年齡的嬰兒枉死；只是黑落德不知道，這些代耶穌死去的嬰兒，卻成了天國一隊身披白袍的烈士。
主耶穌願意代罪人犧牲，並賞報跟隨祂的人，那何況是代祂而死的無辜嬰孩？在天主眼中這些純潔的生命何等珍貴! 祂雖然沒有令這些嬰孩倖免於難，但卻會在天上冠他們為聖，因他們正正是首批為了救主耶穌而犧牲的殉道者。
（本文以英文為準）
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 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. Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:
A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, since they were no more.
Matthew 2:13-18
When the infant Jesus had conquered the Magi, not by the might of His flesh, but the grace of His Spirit, Herod was exceeding wroth, that they whom he had no power to move, were obedient to an Infant lying in a manger. Then by their contempt of him the Magi gave further cause of wrath. For when kings' wrath is stirred by fear for their crowns, it is a great and inextinguishable wrath. But what did he do? "He sent and slew all the children." As a wounded beast rends whatever meets it as if the cause of its hurt, so he mocked by the Magi spent his fury on children. He said to himself in his fury, 'Surely the Magi have found the child whom they said should be King'; for a king in fear for his crown fears all things, suspects all. Then he sent and slew all those infants, that he might secure one among so many. And while Herod persecutes Christ this way, he unwittingly furnished an army of martyrs clothed in white robes of the same age as the Lord.
O blessed infants! Only he who doubts that the baptism of Christ benefits infants will doubt the crown you won in this your passion for Christ. Jesus who at His birth had Angels to proclaim Him, the heavens to testify, and Magi to worship Him, could surely have prevented that these should not have died for Him, had He not known that they died not in that death, but rather lived in higher bliss. Far be the thought that Christ who came to set men free did nothing to reward those who died in His behalf, when hanging on the cross He prayed for those who put Him to death.
The precious death of any martyr deserves high praise because of his heroic confession; the death of these children is precious in the sight of God because of the beatitude they gained so quickly. For already at the beginning of their lives they pass on. The end of the present life is for them the beginning of glory. These then, whom Herod's cruelty tore as sucklings from their mothers' breast, are justly hailed as infant martyr flowers; they were the Church's first blossoms, matured by the frost of persecution during the cold winter of unbelief.
參考 References:
Catena Aurea (St. Thomas Aquinas)
Opus imperfectum in Mattheum (Pseudo-Chrysostom)
Sermon 373, 3 (St. Augustine)
如雲的證人