13 After they had left, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother with you, and escape into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and do away with him." 14 So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, left that night for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until Herod was dead. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet:
I called my son out of Egypt!
16 Herod was furious when he realized that he had been outwitted by the wise men, and in Bethlehem and its surrounding district he had all the male children killed who were two years old or under, reckoning by the date he had been careful to ask the wise men. 17 It was then that the words spoken through the prophet Jeremiah were fulfilled:
A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loudly lamenting:
it was Rachel weeping for her children,
refusing to be comforted
because they were no more.
• Matthew 2:19-23: The Holy Family's Return to Nazareth
19After Herod's death, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother with you and go back to the land of Israel, for those who wanted to kill the child are dead."
21 So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, went back to the land of Israel. 22 But when he learnt that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as ruler of Judaea he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he left for the region of Galilee. 23 There he settled in a town called Nazareth. In this way the words spoken through the prophets were to be fulfilled
He will be called a Nazarene
As I have been thinking about these passages over the last few days what has occurred to me is the variety of different emotions Mary must have been experiencing during these times. On the one hand she must have felt enveloped by the safety and protection provided to her by her husband Joseph through the instruction of God the Father and his messengers. She must have been aware that her every step was in the care of God.
At the very same time however, she could not have been blind to the dangers and violence all around her. She must have wept extensively as she pondered those grieving parents and children who were killed for political ends.
Like Mary we can be grateful for the care of our heavenly Father but we also must not be blind to the violence of our present day realities of the pains of gun violence, poverty and abortion.
Dear Lord
Help us to be grateful for your care for us but not blind to what we can do to alleviate the pain around us
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