Monday, December 28, 2020
Holy family flees to Egypt
An excerpt from Matthew 2:13-18 (NRSV)
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.’
Reflection from Catherine Martin:
As new parents, we occasionally bemoaned the lack of on “Instruction Manual” accompanying our newborn.Lacking one, we needed to rely on our learned knowledge, common sense, or instinct to make child-raising choices. And while our decisions were grounded in love, the process at times was agonizing. How wonderful it would have been to hear definitive instruction from an angel! Joseph, wanting what is best for his infant son, responded to angelic instruction without reservation, because he trusted the Lord completely. He did not research the safety records for infant desert-travel or try to determine the relative probability that Herod would find Jesus in Israel or tell Mary that the whole thing just did not feel right. He went to Egypt and remained there until another angelic visit brought new instructions. Perhaps we should take some of our life decisions off our own (inadequate) shoulders and give them up to God, opening ourselves to angelic visits?
For further study and prayer, the readings assigned for today are:
Psalm 148; Jeremiah 31:15-17; Matthew 2:13-18
Music
“Coventry Carol”
Ancient traditional carol, arr. Philip Stopford, sung by VOCES8
“Herod, the king, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day
His men of might, in his own sight,
All young children to slay.
That woe is me, poor Child for Thee!
And ever mourn and sigh,
For thy parting neither say nor sing,
Bye, bye, lully, lullay.”
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