Matthew 2:13–15,
19–23
Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord
appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother,
and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to
search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and
his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of
Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet,
“Out of Egypt I have called my son.” When Herod died, an angel of the Lord
suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the
child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking
the child’s life are dead.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother,
and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling
over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after
being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made
his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the
prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”
Commentary
During this holy season Christmas, Jesus, Mary and
Joseph should be remembered frequently by every Christian. To help us to
remember them and above all to strive to imitate them, the Church has dedicated
this Sunday to the memory of the Holy Family. Although they were God’s closest
friends, and although they were the holiest family that ever lived, or even
will live, on earth, they had more than their share of this world’s troubles
and cares.
Today’s gospel story tells us of some these earthly
woes and sufferings. They had just settled in Bethlehem, and the baby Jesus was
only a few months old when, to avoid his murder at the hands of the murderous
and jealous Herod they had to flee from Bethlehem and become displaced persons
in a foreign and pagan land.
The journey itself, some 300 miles across a desert,
was a frightening, exhausting and dangerous experience. The search for some
place to live in a foreign land, the difficulty for Joseph in finding employment
in an unfriendly land, so that they could have the bare necessities of life,
and the constant fear for the welfare and survival of the blessed child
committed to their care, must have been experiences that Joseph and Mary never
could forget.
Why, we may well ask, did God allow this to happen
to his dearest and nearest friends on earth? The answer is: he did it for our
sakes. He sent his divine Son, as one of us, on earth to bring us to heaven and
he chose a life for Christ, as well as for his blessed mother and his foster
father, St. Joseph, which would be a model and source of encouragement for the
lowest, and the poorest, and the most persecuted of all those who would ever be
his followers.
With the example of the sufferings and poverty of
the Holy Family of Nazareth before their minds, no Christian family can ever
say that their sufferings and hardships are more than God can demand of them.
No believing Christian can ever say that Christ is asking of him more than he
demanded of himself, and of his beloved Mother and foster father. There are
few, if any, families in this world who do not have to face troubles and trials
of one kind of another. But our Christian faith, and our firm conviction, that
our few short years on this earth are only a proving ground, a preparation, for
a life of endless peace and happiness to come, should give us the necessary
strength to bear with them.
The message of today’s gospel story is a message of
encouragement and consolation for every one of us. If the holiest and greatest
family that ever lived on earth, suffered such trials and hardships all for our
salvation, surely we should be ready and willing to suffer and bear with the
trials that God sends us for our own eternal welfare. Amen.