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 

 

Read also
Christmas Eve at the Brainards

Getting into the Christmas Mood at Cambria's Pine Lodge 

2nd Brainard Literary Reading/Christmas Party

Fiction: The Turkish Seamstress in Ubec

Winning Hearts and Minds

The Black Man in the Forest

The Old Mansion near the plaza

Manila without Verna

Flip Gothic

1943: Tiya Octavia 

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,

Cecilia