..."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...'"
Matthew 2:13
And, just like that, our Holy Family, just celebrated a couple of days ago, becomes a refugee family. Joseph, Mary and Jesus flee persecution in Bethlehem and go to a foreign land, just like so many other holy families in our very own day. Here we are, still merry from our Christmas celebrations and we are struck with the reality of life on this planet. Jesus becomes a refugee child just after the stunning visit from the Magi, who laud him with extravagant gifts. A while back in the news there was a photo of a young boy, bleeding, dusty and scared, sitting on a chair. Do you remember that? There, in that dear, dirty little face, was the holy innocence that our Gospel reminds us about today. When I read this today I thought of the picture of that young boy and I saw Jesus. Jesus is indeed in the terrified faces of the refugees we see everyday in our news feeds. What can we do for them? On this day of the Holy Innocents, let's find a way to help. They are not just nameless unfortunates from far away places. They are our brothers and sisters, our own children and, in fact, Jesus himself. Love, heidi
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