As they were pursuing their journey towards Nazareth, not as yet knowing the Divine counsels, and that Herod was planning the death of the Child Jesus, the Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and bade him flee into Egypt with the Child and His mother, because Herod sought to take away the Child’s life. And Joseph arose from sleep and awoke the Blessed Mother, and told her of the dream. She arose with haste, and proposed starting off at once, for her inmost soul was stirred by the Angel’s warning and she would neglect nothing that might contribute to the safety of her Son. Accordingly that very night they set out towards Egypt. Observe them, and follow them in meditation; picture them taking up the Child Jesus, still asleep; feel for them, and watch intently all that passes, for there is much that is worthy of deep consideration.
And first, reflect on the vicissitudes of prosperity and adversity which our Lord experienced in His own person. And when the like changes happen to you, be patient ; for every mountain has a valley near it. For behold at His Birth Christ was glorified by the shepherds as God ; and then a very little while after His Birth, He was circumcised, as if a sinner. Then came the wise men and honoured Him greatly — He all the while remaining in a stable amongst cattle, and crying like the child of any poor man. Next we find Him presented in the Temple and extolled by Simeon and Anna, and then He is bidden by the angel to flee into Egypt. You may discover in His Life many instances of a similar alternation, which, with a little adaptation, may provide us with instruction. When, therefore, you are receiving comfort, look out for affliction ; and when afflicted, expect comfort We ought not, then, to be elated by the one, nor depressed by the other. For the Lord sprinkles our sorrows with consolations, to sustain hope, lest we should be overborne ; and He sends afflictions to keep us humble, that, being reminded of our misery, we might always stand in fear. Let us consider how all these things were done by our Lord for our instruction, and that Satan might not recognize Him.
In the second place, with regard to Divine benefits and consolations, observe, that he who experiences them ought not to set himself up against him who does not experience them ; and he who does not experience them, ought not to yield to dejection, nor yet to envy. I ask you to notice, that the angel held converse with Joseph, and not with the Blessed Mother, although she was so much the greater of the two. Further, when we see that Joseph, so great in the sight of God, was vouchsafed an angelic visit, not openly, but in a dream, ought we to be ungrateful and murmur when we are favoured with the gifts of God, although it may be they are not bestowed in the way we would have them ?
Thirdly, consider how the Lord permits His people to be troubled by persecutions and tribulations. For great, indeed, must have been the trial to the Blessed Mother and to Joseph, to find that they sought to take away the Child’s life. What news could be more painful ? It was, I repeat, a great trial to them ; for although they knew that He was the Son of God, yet their natural feelings could not but be disturbed, and prompt them to cry out, O Lord God Almighty, why is it necessary that Thy Son should thus flee into Egypt ? Art Thou not able to defend Him here ?” Moreover, there was additional trial in this, that they were obliged to take refuge in a distant and unknown country, to travel on rough roads, when unfit to bear fatigue; the Blessed Virgin, because of her youth, and Joseph, on account of his age. The Child also Himself whom they carried was hardly two months old ; and they had to dwell in a strange land in a state of extreme poverty. All these things form a very real trial. You, then, when you are tried, have patience, and do not expect to be exempt from trials, from which neither Christ Himself nor His mother were dispensed.
Fourthly, consider His benignity. See how soon and how patiently He suffers persecution, and banishment from His native country, and so meekly yields to the fury of the oppressor rather than destroy him in a moment. Profound indeed is this humility, and great this patience ! He will not retaliate, or attempt to injure His enemy, but avoids his snares by withdrawing from him. We should act in the same way towards such as abuse us, despitefully use us and persecute us. Instead of seeking to revenge ourselves upon them, let us assume the attitude of patience, avoid their fury, and what is more, pray for them, as our Lord teaches elsewhere in the Gospel1 The Lord, then, fled from the face of His slave, or, to speak more truly, the Devil’s slave. His mother, so tender and young, and S. Joseph, so advanced in years, carried the Divine Child through a wild, dark, woody, uneven, lonely, tedious road ; a journey which would be twelve or fifteen days’ post for a courier to accomplish, but which they would require two months or more to perform. For they travelled, tradition says, through that desert through which the children of Israel passed, and in which they wandered forty years. But how could they carry provisions with them ? Where, too, and in what way, could they find rest at night and shelter? For there are very few houses to be found in that desert. Feel pity for them, then, for this journey must have been painful, toilsome, and long, both to themselves and to the Child Jesus; go in spirit with them, and help them to carry the Child, and desire to minister to them in whatever way may be in your power. It ought not to seem a hardship to bear some affliction for ourselves, when so much has been borne for us by others — and by what others ! — and so often. But concerning what happened in the desert and on the way, I will not dwell, because few of those details are well authenticated. When they entered into Egypt, all the idols of that country are said to have fallen in pieces, as Isaiah had prophesied.2 They journeyed, it is said, as far as Heliopolis, and there renting a little house, they dwelt for seven years, as strangers and foreigners, in a poor and needy condition.