As a writer, I'm always very keenly aware of people's stories and I am always on the lookout for blogging material. This past Friday, my best friend invited me to an Advent Tea which was a much-needed time of reflection. A priest, Fr. Bullock, gave a wonderful reflection and as I soaked up his words, I knew I wanted to expand on them and bring them to my readers. When his talk was over, I turned to my friend and giddily clapped my hands and said, "That was great! I've got some good blog fodder."

She laughed and replied, "I thought you might write about this for your blog."

For the Advent reflections, we focused on four different people: Herod, the chief priests, the magi, and Mary. My next few blogs will be covering each of these people. The credit for what I'm about to write goes to Blaise Pascal and Father Bullock.

Pascal once said, "There are three kinds of people in the world: Those who seek God and have found Him, those who are seeking Him, and those that neither seek Him or find Him."

Father Bullock went on to say, "I would expand this to four groups of people: Those that have found God, those that are seeking God, those that are seeking for negative reasons, and those that don't care to seek."

Herod.

A wicked, power-hungry man who sought God not because he wanted a relationship, but, instead, for selfish, violent reasons. He wanted to destroy him. In Matthew Chapter 2, the magi are seeking to find the "newborn king of the Jews." They appear before Herod to ask him where the child might be located. Remember, the magi were not Jewish and would not have known the prophecies surrounding the Messiah's birthplace. So, they head to Herod and inquire about where the location might be.

We see very easily the internal thoughts of Herod.

"When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled." Matthew 2:3 Uh oh. Someone's threatening his earthly power. It doesn't matter that it's a newborn baby. It's a threat and threats must be dealt with swiftly.

But, his external actions and words are a contradiction to his internal thoughts. Even though Herod was king over the Jews, he had no clue where the Messiah was to be born, so he summons the chief priests to ask. They tell him that Bethlehem is the location. He calls back the magi and tries to act all nicey-nice. "Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage." Matthew 2:8

Oh yes, Mr. Herod was just *dying* inside to pay homage to a potential usurper. Actually, he was dying for one of his thugs to stick a sword through the baby.

Herod sought God not because he wanted to worship Him, but because he wanted to root Him out and destroy Him. This is what happens when you set yourself up as your own personal god. Herod, though, is not an anomaly. We can find many like him throughout history.

How many world leaders have been threatened by religion, specifically Christianity? Numerous. How many people have been killed because they are religious? Too many to count.

Look at our own country. Christianity is consistently targeted by the media and non-believing crowds. If you disagree with Christianity or make fun of it...well, job well done and here's a cookie. I've read several things now over the course of the years by militant atheists and while they will argue against other religions, the bulk of their writing is focused on dismantling one thing--Christianity.

Christ is a threat to many people. His teachings conflict with their way of life. Just like Herod, some people want to root out Christianity and dismantle it until it is no more. In all honesty, they've done a pretty good job. They've managed to remove God from a lot of things in our country. Their basic underlying reason: Christianity is a threat. It threatens the kind of life some people wish to live out.

Usually, in our country, you won't lose your life because you are Christian, but you will suffer persecution if you try to live out Christ's teachings. People online have encouraged me to kill myself because I'm Catholic. I've been told that my Christian beliefs make me "the worst mother in the world." People have told me that they "hate me" because I am a Christian and that I'm nothing but a "brainwashed bigot." All of this is said in an effort to silence me and try to scare me away. Where Herod had his goons use swords to actually cut down the Holy Innocents in search of Christ, those threatened by Christ today use their words like swords. They attempt to use words and laws to cut you down until you just stop talking about Jesus.

When you set yourself up as your own god, you become paranoid that another will come along and take your place. Herod was terrified of losing his way of life. He loved the prestige, the power, the money, the women, the material goods, and the freedom to determine his own moral compass. The Christ-child caused great fear in him. Isn't that interesting? Herod really lived in complete and utter fear that someone would snatch away what he had built up for himself. He had no peace whatsoever.

It's not different today. Up and down the ages, there have been those that actively work to remove Christ. They are terrified of losing their way of life. For bad leaders, it's the knowledge that people oftentimes worship a higher power and not them. When people believe in a higher power than the government, it makes them harder to control. That's why Communism always tries to purge religion. For regular people, it's the knowledge that Christ is the moral compass and that makes sin uncomfortable. In their minds, it's better to get rid of the friction. But, there is no real peace here, just the constant fear that their way of life will be taken away.

As followers of Christ, we know that our lives are not our own. They are God's. He is our Creator and we own Him everything. It can be scary even for us Christians to give our lives to Christ and allow Him to be King in our hearts. We won't know true peace, though, until we surrender. It's only when we give our lives to Christ that we know peace and we know our purpose.

Courage is what it takes, Catholic Pilgrims, to face Herods. Courage and fortitude. We must pray for both of these virtues every day and always be ready and willing to call on St. Michael to defend us in battle. We must, also, pray for a change of heart in those that seek to rid the world of Christianity.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21