Mental Prayer for January 7, The Flight Into Egypt

Mental Prayer Meditation Helps

Presence of God

Grace I Ask: Grace to see the mystery, to know that there are many things in our Lord's life that require deep, prayerful thought, and to try to understand.

The Idea (cf. Matt. 2:13-16): Just when things are going along so well for the Child and His parents - a tragedy. It is a good thing to try to figure out the meaning of it. The very night the wise men left, the whole life of the Holy Family is shaken up. An angel tells Joseph they must leave at once. The rest of the night is one jumble of hurried packing - packing for a six-day trip to a foreign country. And they don't even know for how long.

My Personal Application: What's it all about? This is serious business; God doesn't do things aimlessly. Herod finds out that the wise men went home without telling him where Jesus was. He decides to kill all of the boys of Bethlehem around Jesus' age so he'll be sure to get Him. So the Holy Family moves. That's the story...Why did it happen? Why did the Jesus, Mary and Joseph have to slip away in the middle of the night? The little Child is God. And Joseph and Mary know this. If He was God, He could have found an easier way to do it, couldn't He? Why did He do it this way? Ask yourself! Try to answer for your­self!

I Speak to God: My God, you are all-wise. You know what you are doing. I surely don't know why you made it so hard for your Son. A miracle would have been an easy way out - but you wanted me to realize that your Son was also human just as I am, and you wanted to help me realize that the easiest way is not always the best way.

Thought for Today: Lord, teach me to think more the way you do.
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Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)