"That it might be fulfilled which the Lord spake by the prophet, saying: Out of Egypt have I called My Son." (St Matt. ii. 15.)

1st Prelude. Picture of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

2nd Prelude. Grace to believe that no circumstances in which God has placed me can hinder my spiritual life.

Only one child escaped the cruel sword of Herod, and that one was Mary's Son. He was safe in the arms of His Mother, who was fleeing with Him into Egypt, with an anguish of heart so great that it constituted the Second Dolour. But no design of Herod, however powerful and clever, could touch that life before His hour was come. The child knew it, and His Mother knew it—yet they fled from those who sought His life; for in all things Mary's Son must be made like unto His brethren. He could have protected Himself, had He so wished, without giving so much trouble and anxiety to His parents. He heard "Rachel bewailing her children"; He heard the cry of each one of those little Innocents, who was giving his life for Him—yet He did not raise a finger to prevent all the misery, because He had come to do His Father's Will, and He left all in His Hands; and also because He is our model, and He was showing us how to act. He wants us to have a perfect acquiescence in God's Will, a boundless confidence, a profound peace, and even joy, in the midst of the most trying and perplexing circumstances. He wants us to lie quiet in God's arms, as He lay in His Mother's, content to know nothing except that God's will is being done.

He who knew least about it all, and yet had apparently to take the chief part and bear all the anxiety, was Joseph. He it was who received the warning message from the Angel; he it was who had to break the news to Mary that the Child's life was in danger and that they must fly immediately—even in the middle of the night. He it was who took the Child and His Mother into Egypt, in accordance with what to anyone else but Joseph would have seemed a very arbitrary and unreasonable command. But those who live their lives close to Jesus and Mary do not criticise God's dealings: such an idea never occurs to them; they have only one thing to do—to obey. When a criticising, discontented spirit comes over me, I shall find that the reason is always the same—I have not been keeping close to Jesus and Mary.

How much Mary suffers during that long journey across the desert—anxiety, fatigue, hunger, thirst, want of shelter! But it is all on account of her Son; the sword is piercing her heart every day, but the Babe is pressed against the wounds. Angels are following and longing to help their Queen, but they cannot without a permission from their little Master, and the permission will not be given, for He and His Mother have made their sacrifice—they have laid themselves on the Altar as victims and are already being consumed; and the desert is rejoicing and flourishing like the lily, (Isaias xxxv. 1), because Mary with her child is passing through it. O Mary, look upon thy children who are crossing the desert of this world. The wilderness has lost all its terrors since thou with thy Son didst pass through it. Thou knowest its difficulties and its hardships; "turn, then, thine eyes of mercy towards us, and after this our exile show unto us the blessed Fruit of thy womb, Jesus."

Mary now finds herself in a heathen land, and her interest in the Gentiles must have greatly increased. But her heart is also enlarged in another direction—namely, towards the Jews of the Dispersion. Legend tells us that it was at Heliopolis, one of the cities where the Egyptian Jews lived and where they had built a Temple, that the Holy Family took up their abode while they stayed in Egypt. What a blessing and a joy to those faithful souls to have the Holy Family living amongst them! How it must have stirred up their zeal and courage! It may have been Mary's influence on many a mother's heart, and the influence of Jesus on many a little playmate, which produced in after years some of the great preachers to the Gentiles who came from amongst the Jews of the Dispersion.

It was not for nothing that Mary and her Son were sent into Egypt. God has His reasons, though He does not often reveal them, because He loves to have our confidence.

Now, for a time—perhaps only for a few months, for Herod died soon after the slaughter of the Innocents—Egypt was the centre of the world; nobody guessed it, but the Angels were there worshipping, adoring, wondering. It is a true picture of the Blessed Sacrament, hidden away in so many Tabernacles, surrounded by people who do not suspect Its presence. It is nothing to thousands who pass by. But what is It to those who know? What was Jesus to Mary in the land of her exile? He was her all—with Him exile was no exile; with Him God's Will was easy, God's arrangements the best; with Him it was impossible to complain, impossible to have any regrets about the past, or impatient wonderings about the future. She was absorbed in the present, because she had Jesus with her. He had to be taken care of, fed, taught, thought about, worked for, lived for. What a lesson for those who are inclined to look upon their surroundings as Egypt, who say too readily: "How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land?" (Ps. cxxxvi. 4.) How can I do this or that here?

It was in Egypt that the Child grew, and it was there that Mary heard His first words, watched His first tottering steps, and taught Him His first (vocal) prayers. And while her Child grew in wisdom and age, Mary was growing too—growing in grace and virtue; imbibing more and more of the spirit of her Son from the services she rendered to Him; making great progress in her new school, the school of the Cross; getting daily more food for meditation and prayer; enlarging her heart and preparing herself to be a second Eve—the Mother of all living.

It is possible, then, to grow in Egypt! And not only is it possible, but if God sends me there, it is the soil most suitable for my growth at that particular epoch of my life. How many of God's children have had to live in uncongenial surroundings, and with those who have no sympathy with their faith, from the earliest confessors and martyrs to the present-day converts to the Faith! If Jesus had spent all His lifetime in the Holy Land, such might have been tempted to say: "He is my Model, but He was never in my circumstances!" But no, Jesus spent some time with His Mother in Egypt, and He grew there.

Let me learn the lesson that God is with me wherever I am and in whatever circumstances; and let me try to copy Mary in being so absorbed by Him, and by all that I have to do for Him, in the person of His "least brethren," that my surroundings matter little.

"Be thou there until I shall tell thee," was the only order given to Joseph—there was no hint of how long the time would be; and so Mary said her Fiat each day, ready either to stay in Egypt or to go back to her own land—both were the same to her as long as they were the expression of God's Will. At last the Angel came again with a message: "Arise and take the Child and His Mother, and go into the land of Israel; for they are dead that sought the life of the Child." Their own dear land, then, was no longer dangerous to them. God gave His reasons this time—but when He does not, what then? Then my faith must be strong enough to believe that the fair land, which looks as if it would be so congenial, holds dangers for me which Egypt does not; there are enemies there who seek after my soul to destroy it, and whom I can only escape by the hard discipline of Egypt. Then I will be thankful for Egypt as long as it lasts, and thankful, too, that my life—every detail of it—is arranged for me by one who knows.

And so the faces of Mary and Jesus were set towards the land of Israel—and to them both it meant Calvary. Mary would doubtless have preferred to take her Son back to Bethlehem, and bring Him up near the Temple, but again the warning voice told them that it was not God's will. And so they "retired into the quarters of Galilee," and Mary found herself back again in Nazareth—the city of so many memories; and two more of the prophecies concerning her Son have been fulfilled: "Out of Egypt have I called my Son," and, "He shall be called a Nazarene."

Colloquy. O Mary, get thy child grace to learn some of the precious lessons that Egypt has to teach—that blind obedience and submission which bring perfect rest; that waiting for God's orders without any complaining, or impatience, or suggestions of something else; that quiet uniting of all sufferings with those of Jesus; that entire acquiescence in all His plans for me.

Resolution. To put no obstacle in the way of God's direction of me to-day.

Spiritual Bouquet. "Fly into Egypt, and be there until I shall tell thee."

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