Holy Family (A)/Joseph Mary & Jesus flee to Egypt
   Sir 3:2-14/ Ps 128/ Col 3:12-21/ Mt 2:13-15, 19-23
  Introduction
 

         Those who moved to other states either to get lower housing taxes or to have less expensive real properties experienced how hard it is to move with your whole family. It is not simply packing your things into boxes and put them into your car. It is more of “self uprooting” from the very place where you were planted for many years, and then now you are hoping that you will still grow in the new “soil” where you are in.

  
  Background
 
  1. The flight of the Holy Family into Egypt was entirely natural that time. During the troubled times in Israel, even before Jesus came, many Jews sought refuge in Egypt. The result was that every city in Egypt had its colony of Jews. In the city of Alexandria alone there were actually more than a million Jews, and certain districts of the city were entirely handed over to them. Joseph in his hour of peril was doing what many Jews had done before- to flee in Egypt.

  2. The action of Joseph to leave that very night was indeed necessary. Herod was known for his being a master in the art of assassination for those who tend to succeed him and take away his crown. He murdered his wife Mariamne, and her mother Alexandria, his eldest son Antipater, and two other sons, Alexander and Aristobulus. And in the hour of his death he arranged for the slaughter of the notable men of Jerusalem. There was saying that the only thing that survived in the household of Herod was his dog. When the Magi announced that the new king of the Jews was born in Bethlehem, he took steps right away to murder the child. He had carefully enquired from the wise men when they had seen the star, and then afterwards he gave the orders that every child under two years of age in Bethlehem and the surrounding district should be slaughtered. It was the very reason why Joseph was warned by the angel to take his family in exile to Egypt.

  3. The last words of this passage introduce us to a custom which is characteristic of Matthew. He sees in the flight to Egypt a fulfillment of the world spoken by Hosea as quoted from Hosea 11:1, which reads: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” In its original form this saying of Hosea had nothing to do with Jesus, and nothing to do with the Holy Family flight to Egypt. It was a simple statement of how God had delivered the nation of Israel (His chosen sons/people) from slavery and from the bondage in the land of Egypt. Matthew picked up this verse from Hosea, and associates “the son” into “the Son of God,” because he knew that the only way to convince the Jews that Jesus was the promised Anointed One of God was to prove that He was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy.
  
  Reflection:  
 
  1. Family is the basic institution of our society. If you destroy families you can easily tear down the whole nation. Unfortunately the present day families are being threatened by different factors not only with: same sex marriage, divorce and abortion but also of poverty and war. Many families were displaced because of wars.  Some members of the families need to go to other countries for couple of years to look for work. Separations paid a high price where the unity of every family was at stake. Broken families, separations of siblings became the most painful experience of in the life of every migrant. Neighborhood support and civic help and religious charities play a very crucial role in this moment of our history.

  2. The life Baby Jesus was threatened by the terror of Herod and his parents need to protect him. The new kind of “Herod” is re-incarnated in our present time in every clinic where abortion is happening. Bethlehem was a small town and only few mothers have little children that time, probably only 20 to 30 babies were killed by Herod. But we never know the number of babies being killed everyday in every abortion clinic. Without doubt the “new Herods” in our present day society is far more cruel than the first one.  We pray to God that the spirit of Joseph and Mary may touch the hearts of the present day parents and bring their babies into a safer place, into the “new Egypt” of hospital with successful delivery.

  3. Joseph was a dreamer not only because he dreamed twice in today’s reading but because Matthew wanted to associate Joseph with the other Joseph in the Old Testament who was considered “the dreamer.”  Dreams do not only happen when you sleep at night. Dream happens mostly at daytime, especially when the father of the family has many good plans for his family, and many hopes for the future of his kids. Sometimes there are inevitable frictions that could happen between him and his children especially when he tried to push his kids a little harder to excel in their studies and to finish college. I hope children should learn how to appreciate these efforts of their parents are just trying to bring you to safer place into a “new Egypt” of your career, where your future will be brighter and secured.
  
  Conclusion  
            Life is an endless travel. We encounter many threats along the way and oftentimes it creates different kinds of fears in our hearts. Mary and Joseph did not feel such fears, because they know that Jesus was with them. No matter how far we travel, or how dark the “roads” might be, if you believe that God is always with you, you should never be afraid.