Matthew 2:13-15,19-23
Then by the dark Egyptian river,
Joseph, the Mother, and the marvelous Child,
Heard the chill night-wind softly quiver
In the tall palms or o'er the sandfields wild.
- Father Frederick William Faber
After the wise men were departed, behold an Angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: Arise, and take the Child and His Mother and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell thee. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the Child to destroy Him. The holy man obeys the mandate. The poor sick mother is placed upon the ass, and at midnight they steal away and flee into the wilderness. At the present time a journey from Bethlehem to Egypt is a hazardous affair. Napoleon lost a third of his army in the burning sands, and how did Joseph and his suffering charge escape? No miracle was wrought in their favor, in fact, no miracle was ever wrought to relieve the Holy Family from poverty and suffering.
We may picture to ourselves the tall old patriarch, with uncombed beard and hair, wrapped in a patched cloak, and with bare feet bleeding from contact with the sharp stones, limping along by the ass's side, while Mary and the Child sat patiently on the poor beast as the burning sand flew in gusts around them, or sometimes when faint, taken down from their perch and seated in the ass's shadow; for in the desert to get in the shadow of a beast, when the broiling sun is over head, is a luxury that cannot be appreciated in our country.
Some travelers crossing the desert saw a brilliant light proceeding apparently from the Sphinx. Knowing that the altar of the sun stood there, they asked of one another in amaze: "Can the people be sacrificing again to the sun?" And when they drew nearer they saw that a little group of wanderers was resting beneath the shadow of the mystery of the desert. A man of middle age, dusky and travel-stained, was feeding a small gray ass, while on the arms of the Sphinx rested a young woman holding an Infant to her breast. The radiant light which had dazzled them shone from the face of the young Child with a great and exceeding brilliancy. Now, the travelers going on their way, were filled with awe and aston ishment. Yet they did not know that they had beheld the "Light of the World."
Did you ever see the lovely picture of "The Rest in Egypt," by Olivier-Merson? It is night. The Sphinx is gazing out, with its cold, stony gaze over darkened Egypt, which so long has failed to give answer to its question. But between the Sphinx's arms are pillowed the Mother and Child, while Joseph sleeps peacefully on the sand near by. And as we look we understand the moral of the scene; the Sphinx's question has found its answer; the mighty question, the question above all questions, What is man, what his origin, his destiny, his duty? is answered by the dear Jesus, who slumbers so sweetly in Mary's arms. - Bishop Keane
All day I watch the stretch of burning sand,
All night I brood beneath the golden stars;
Amid the silence of a desolate land,
No touch of bitterness my reverie mars.
Built by the proudest of a kingly line,
Over my head the centuries fly fast;
The secrets of the mighty dead are mine;
I hold the key of a forgotten past.
Yet, ever hushed into a rapturous dream,
I see again that night. A halo mild
Shone from the liquid moon. Beneath her beam
Traveled a tired young Mother and her Child.
Within mine arms she slumbered, and alone
I watched the Infant. At my feet her guide
Lay stretched o er wearied. On my breast of stone
Rested the Crucified.
- Agnes Repplier
- text taken from Heaven's Bright Queen, by William James Walsh