The Shadow of Herod

Blood on the bedclothes, blood on the stuffed animal, blood on the hands of the righteous

Fra Angelico, The Massacre of the Innocents, detail from panel one of the Silver Treasury of Santissima Annunziata, c.1450–53 Source

A phrase came to me this morning — the Shadow of Herod.

At any time, at any place, a stranger may come and take my child from me forever.

It may be a time I think of happy things, like a holiday or a performance.

It may be a place I thought safe, like my home or market or school.

It may be someone I have never met before, or someone I have seen in passing.

But for no rational reason (from my point of view) I may lose my child forever, in an instant, with the flash of a gun or a slash of a sword or the detonation of a bomb.

We forget there are horror stories in the Bible, and some of them happened at Christmas. And some of them echo again, and again, and again, as the Shadow of Herod stretches on.

I originally posted a version of this five years ago on Facebook. It still feels appropriate.