The feast of the Holy Innocents is a reminder of the suffering that children have endured throughout the ages. It should inspire us to do what we can to protect innocent life. On a more theoretical note, this feast has inspired theological reflection on the statement in the Apostles’ Creed that Jesus “descended into hell.” What does that mean? The Bible speaks of the necessity of faith in Christ for salvation, of the importance of Baptism. Like Abraham and King David and the Jeremiah the Innocents never confessed Jesus nor were they baptized. The image of Jesus descending to hell refers to the divine ability to apply the graces of the pascal mystery irrespective of our linear understanding of time, to whomever God so chooses.
