Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Christmas Reflection: The Holy Family as Refugees


 

In church today, Christmas day, I thought of the refugees in the Philippines, those displaced from their homes that were destroyed by supertyphoon Haiyan.  I hear there are many of them in Cebu City as well as in Manila.




 I also thought of the millions of Syrians who have fled their homes because of the brutal civil war there.

And I thought of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus who had to flee to escape King Herod's wrath.  They too were refugees.

It is amazing to think of the Holy Family as refugees struggling in another country, dealing with another culture, perhaps a different language, and their having to cope in that place as outsiders.

I have been praying and asking God to grant peace to the Middle East. This is where Your Son lived, I tell Him.  Egypt is where the Holy Family fled to be safe from Herod. It was on the road to Damascus where Saul became Paul.  These ancient places are in turmoil, have mercy and grant them peace.

I like to remember the often repeated sentence in the Bible:  Fear Not.

As this Christmas Day comes to an end, I wish every one the blessing of "fearing nothing," of having confidence that God will grant justice and peace, even when these seem elusive to our human eyes.

God is greater than us ---  I will also hold this thought this Christmas Day.

All for now,
Cecilia 

 











photo of Holy Family courtesy of Wikipedia; the rest of the photos courtesy of C. Brainard
tags: Christmas, family, holiday
This is all for now,
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