Holy Innocents, Martyrs

1:5And this is the announcement which we have heard from him, and which we announce to you: that God is light, and in him there is no darkness. 6If we claim that we have fellowship with him, and yet we walk in darkness, then we are lying and not telling the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, just as he also is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8If we claim that we have no sin, then we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, then he is faithful and just, so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity. 10If we claim that we have not sinned, then we make him a liar, and his Word is not in us.

2:1My little sons, this I write to you, so that you may not sin. But if anyone has sinned, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Just One. 2And he is the propitiation for our sins. And not only for our sins, but also for those of the whole world.

2if the Lord had not been with us, when men rose up against us,

3perhaps they would have swallowed us alive. When their fury was enraged against us,

4perhaps the waters would have engulfed us.

5Our soul has passed through a torrent. Perhaps, our soul had even passed through intolerable water.

…

7Our soul has been snatched away like a sparrow from the snare of the hunters. The snare has been broken, and we have been freed.

8Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

13And after they had gone away, behold, an Angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: “Rise up, and take the boy and his mother, and flee into Egypt. And remain there until I tell you. For it will happen that Herod will seek the boy to destroy him.” 14And getting up, he took the boy and his mother by night, and withdrew into Egypt. 15And he remained there, until the death of Herod, in order to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Out of Egypt, I called my son.” 16Then Herod, seeing that he had been fooled by the Magi, was very angry. And so he sent to kill all the boys who were in Bethlehem, and in all its borders, from two years of age and under, according to the time that he had learned by questioning the Magi. 17Then what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled, saying: 18“A voice has been heard in Ramah, great weeping and wailing: Rachel crying for her sons. And she was not willing to be consoled, because they were no more.”