Colloquy with the Divine Infant, loving Him, thanking Him, begging for the spirit of poverty, humility; and with Mary and Joseph, begging of them to obtain for me these precious dispositions.
THE FIFTH DAY
THE FIRST MEDITATION
On the Flight into Egypt
1st Prelude. Recall the facts, as narrated by St. Matthew ii, 13-19.
2nd Prelude. See St. Joseph quietly asleep in the night, and the Angel standing before him to deliver his message.
3rd Prelude. Ask the grace to understand the lessons taught in this mystery by Jesus, Mary and Joseph, so as to know your King more intimately, love Him more ardently and follow Him more faithfully.
Point I. Consider the message of the Angel, noticing particularly the persons, their words and their actions.
1. The persons. The Angel is a faithful messenger, a model of exactitude when a task is entrusted to us. He addresses Joseph because he is the head of the family. So God usually directs us through our superiors, even if these should be less able, even as Joseph was less gifted than the others. Jesus and Mary are not visited: “Take the child and his mother.”
2. Consider the words spoken: “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 action required implies many great difficulties; first a very long journey of hundreds of miles, and that through a wild country, where savage animals and robbers roamed. The parable of the Good Samaritan shows that robbers infested those regions, and the watch kept by the shepherds points to the presence of wolves, bears, etc. Then they are to leave at once, with no provisions for so long a journey: “Arise, and take, etc.” They are not even to say a kind farewell to the neighbors who had befriended them, but must leave in secret like criminals. And the motive assigned by the Angel is unsatisfactory to human reason: “Herod will seek the child to destroy him.” Were there not a thousand easier ways to prevent this? Was not God wise and powerful enough to save His Divine Son in Bethlehem? Or could they not have gone to Mary’s cousin Elizabeth, where young John the Baptist was living in security? Perhaps we might have been self-opiniated enough to find such objections; but Jesus, Mary and Joseph did not criticize.
3. The Actions of these exhibit a prompt, cheerful and perfect obedience. These are our models. Have we always acted thus? Is it our habit now to do so?