THE WORD
Sir 3, 2-7. 12-14 / Col 3,12-21 /Mt 2,13-15.19-23
When they had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the
Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there. And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee. He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He shall be called a Nazorean.”
IN OTHER WORDS
Three of my acolytes in the parish before were children of a catholic family from Aleppo in Syria. They were survivors of a clan of Christian Syrians brutally persecuted by Muslim radicals and endured a very hard and dangerous journey from their war-torn country Syria over the rugged mountains of Jordan and Turkey before they finally reached Germany where they found assistance. They were persecuted because they refused to denounce their Christian faith – a grave threat to the beliefs of the ruling radicals. That was 2006.
Matthew tells us that the holy family experienced almost the same fate in almost exactly the same place over two thousand years earlier. They had to flee for their lives and sought to find rescue in a safer place. The reason was Jesus – the promised Messiah, the savior-king. He was only an infant, and yet he already had enemies who wanted to destroy him. His presence was a grave threat to the established ruler Herod that he could not rest until he had annihilated Jesus. Through Joseph’s faithfulness, who followed everything that was instructed to him in a dream, they survived.
Today, in the 21st century, the persecution of those who believe in Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah and savior-king has not ceased. In fact, it has increased and gotten worst. (See, The Global War on Christians“ [2013] by: John Allen, Jr.; Weltverfolgungsindex 2015 @ www.opendoors.de).
Our Christian faith is a wonderful gift. It is God’s precious gift to all of us. At the same time, it is a great challenge. It has to be lived. It has to be preserved. And it has to be defended peacefully even to the point of sacrificing one’s life. The fate of the Holy Family, the tortures and blood of modern day Christian martyrs all over the world and the unbelievable faithfulness of the family of my three Syrian acolytes to their christian faith remind me always of the preciousness of my own personal faith in Jesus Christ, my God, my Saviour and my King.
- Fr. Roberto “Jun” C. Alda, Jr., SVD | Missionshaus St. Wendel, Germany
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
