From: Matthew 2:13-18

The Flight Into Egypt

[13] Now when they (the Magi) had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord ap-
peared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the Child and His mother,
and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search
for the Child, to destroy Him.” [14] And he rose and took the Child and His mo-
ther by night, and departed to Egypt, [15] and remained there until the death
of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of
Egypt have I called My Son.”

The Massacre of the Innocents

[16] Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was
in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and
in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time which
he had ascertained from the wise men. [17] Then was fulfilled what was spoken
by the prophet Jeremiah: [18] “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud
lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, be-
cause they were no more.”

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

14. St. John Chrysostom, commenting on this passage, draws a particular at-
tention to Joseph’s faithfulness and obedience: “On hearing this, Joseph was
not scandalized, nor did he say, ‘This is hard to understand. You yourself told
me not long ago that He would save His people, and not He is not able to save
even Himself. Indeed, we have to flee and undertake a journey and be away for
a long time...’. But he does not say any of these things, because Joseph is a
faithful man. Neither does he ask when they will be coming back, even though
the angel had left it open when he said ‘and remain there till I tell you.’ This
does not hold him back: on the contrary, he obeys, believes and endures all
trials with joy” (”Hom. on St. Matthew”, 8).

It is worth noting also how God’s way of dealing with His chosen ones contains
light and shade: they have to put up with intense sufferings side by side with
great joy: “It can be clearly seen that God, who is full of love for man, mixes
pleasant things with unpleasant ones, as He did with all the Saints. He gives
us neither dangers nor consolations in a continual way, but rather He makes
the lives of the just a mixture of both. This was what He did with Joseph”
(”ibid”.).

15. The text of Hosea 11:1 speaks of a child who comes out of Egypt and is
a son of God. This refers in the first place to the people of Israel whom God
brought out of Egypt under Moses’ leadership. But this event was a symbol or
prefiguration of Jesus, the Head of the Church, the New People of God. It is in
Him that this prophecy is principally fulfilled. The sacred text gives a quotation
from the Old Testament in the light of its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The Old
Testament achieves its full meaning in Christ, and, in the words of St. Paul, to
read it without keeping in mind Jesus is to have one’s face covered by a veil (cf.
2 Corinthians 3:12-18).

18. Ramah was the city in which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, concentra-
ted the Israelites he had taken prisoner. Since Ramah was in the land of Benja-
min, Jeremiah puts this lament for the children of Israel in the mouth of Rachel,
the mother of Benjamin and Joseph. So great was the misfortune of those exi-
led to Babylon that Jeremiah says poetically that Rachel’s sorrow is too great
to allow for consolation.

“Rachel was buried in the race course near Bethlehem. Since her grave was
nearby and the property belonged to her son, Benjamin (Rachel was of the tribe
of Benjamin), the children beheaded in Bethlehem could reasonably be called
Rachel’s children” (St John Chrysostom, “Hom. on St Matthew”, 9).

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading

1 John 1:5-2:2 ©

This is what we have heard from Jesus Christ,

and the message that we are announcing to you:

God is light; there is no darkness in him at all.

If we say that we are in union with God

while we are living in darkness,

we are lying because we are not living the truth.

But if we live our lives in the light,

as he is in the light,

we are in union with one another,

and the blood of Jesus, his Son,

purifies us from all sin.

If we say we have no sin in us,

we are deceiving ourselves

and refusing to admit the truth;

but if we acknowledge our sins,

then God who is faithful and just

will forgive our sins and purify us

from everything that is wrong.

To say that we have never sinned

is to call God a liar

and to show that his word is not in us.

I am writing this, my children,

to stop you sinning;

but if anyone should sin,

we have our advocate with the Father,

Jesus Christ, who is just;

he is the sacrifice that takes our sins away,

and not only ours,

but the whole world’s.

Psalm

Psalm 123:2-5,7-8 ©

Our life, like a bird, has escaped from the snare of the fowler.

If the Lord had not been on our side

when men rose up against us,

then would they have swallowed us alive

when their anger was kindled.

Our life, like a bird, has escaped from the snare of the fowler.

Then would the waters have engulfed us,

the torrent gone over us;

over our head would have swept

the raging waters.

Our life, like a bird, has escaped from the snare of the fowler.

Indeed the snare has been broken

and we have escaped.

Our help is in the name of the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

Our life, like a bird, has escaped from the snare of the fowler.

Gospel Acclamation

cf.Te Deum

Alleluia, alleluia!

We praise you, O God,

we acknowledge you to be the Lord;

the noble army of martyrs praise you, O Lord.

Alleluia!

Gospel

After the wise men had left, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother with you, and escape into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and do away with him.’ So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, left that night for Egypt, where he stayed until Herod was dead. This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken through the prophet:

I called my son out of Egypt.

Herod was furious when he realised that he had been outwitted by the wise men, and in Bethlehem and its surrounding district he had all the male children killed who were two years old or under, reckoning by the date he had been careful to ask the wise men. It was then that the words spoken through the prophet Jeremiah were fulfilled:

A voice was heard in Ramah,

sobbing and loudly lamenting:

it was Rachel weeping for her children,

refusing to be comforted because they were no more.