Unexpected trips are hard. Motels...
Illustration
Unexpected trips are hard. Motels are already full, packing has been hurried, and often essentials are forgotten. Previous plans have to be abandoned, and, even in the best of families, tempers are sometimes short and patience strained.
For the Holy Family, the trip to Bethlehem was hard enough, but now they must make another trip, for they can't go home with safety. The scriptures tell us little of the "Flight into Egypt"; we don't know how far they traveled, how they found lodging, how much their fear, how great their inconvenience. Did the gifts of the Wise Men make this unexpected trip possible? We would only wish that these things were not too hard on the Holy Family.
For them and for all our families, Paul's words: "compassion, kindness, meekness and patience" give guidance as to how we may help our families pass through the most difficult of circumstances. And we must add: "forgiveness," for when a pressure situation may cause us to be less than our best selves, forgiveness keeps that pressure from continuing beyond the emergency.
For the Holy Family, the trip to Bethlehem was hard enough, but now they must make another trip, for they can't go home with safety. The scriptures tell us little of the "Flight into Egypt"; we don't know how far they traveled, how they found lodging, how much their fear, how great their inconvenience. Did the gifts of the Wise Men make this unexpected trip possible? We would only wish that these things were not too hard on the Holy Family.
For them and for all our families, Paul's words: "compassion, kindness, meekness and patience" give guidance as to how we may help our families pass through the most difficult of circumstances. And we must add: "forgiveness," for when a pressure situation may cause us to be less than our best selves, forgiveness keeps that pressure from continuing beyond the emergency.
