Herods and Josephs

Children are one of the biggest reasons adults work. Caring for another human being from conception to the age of independence is a noble human endeavor, but this entails expenses. It’s one of life’s harsh realities that you can’t raise a child on love and good intentions alone—everything calls for money, from purchasing diapers to earning diplomas.

Hardworking parents will readily admit that they would be willing to endure much in the workplace—poor working conditions, quirky bosses and coworkers, substandard salaries, etc.—in order to give their children the best of everything, most especially of education, “the only wealth we can leave to our children”. Unfortunately, in our country, it seems not all children are born equal. It is most evident in this season when child beggars proliferate in the city streets and on the other hand some parents take their kids to watch “My Little Bossings”. Right there you see a gap: while many children live below poverty line, there are a few kindergarteners who earn hundreds of thousands of pesos pleasing millions of movie fans. What a great divide!

Today’s gospel touches on the fate of children in and around Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. Herod ordered the massacre of infants, while Joseph saved the life of the child destined to be the messiah. We have Herods and Josephs in our midst, too, in the 21 century. The Herods are those who use their power to kill children either by performing abortion or by creating laws that facilitate abortion. The Josephs are those who do everything in their power to save and nurture children, even those not their own. While by hard work we ordinary people strive to give our children a better life, we pray to remember that it is not just about the future of our own family but that of humanity as well. Today’s children are tomorrow’s parents; how we form and raise them determines the quality of humanity’s future.