“Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there.” Matthew 2:21-22
When we arrived in Egypt, we sold the donkey that had accompanied me in all my journeys. Now, I miss him terribly. How are we going to cross the desert without his help? But Joseph found the solution. One day after the angel appeared to him in the dream, he came home almost dancing with joy.
“Mary, I have found the solution. We do not need to cross the desert,” he said.
“What do you mean, Joseph?” I asked him. “How are we going to return to Israel if we don’t go through the desert?”
“We will return by sea,” he said with a big smile on his face. “We will sell all our belongings and with that money, we will be able to find space on a ship.”
Inside of me I had contradictory feelings. Yes, I was happy to return to my homeland, but I was also sad to get rid of all the items that had been a part of my life during the past seven years. We sold all our furniture, including Jesus’ beautiful crib that Joseph had built Him for the third time with so much love. Of course, Jesus had not used it in five years, but I kept it as a reminder of how much we had endured in His first forty days of life.
We got rid of clothing, tools, kitchen utensils and many other things. We didn’t sell everything, only enough to be able to get us three tickets for our boat trip. The rest of our stuff was given freely to some of our poor neighbors. Honestly, none of our things were valuable, but to me, each item had an emotional significance because they were acquired with effort since we were a simple immigrant family. I gave all of my knitting materials and my textile tools to my neighbor Esther who used to help me, and had become quite good at the job. I told her to keep it and to remember me when she was knitting or creating beautiful tapestries.
On our last night in Egypt, I walked around our empty house, which Joseph had already sold to a Hebrew family that had arrived in Egypt a few months earlier. I recalled the first time that Jesus crawled through the floors. When I entered the room where He said His first word, I could not hold back my tears. There were so many memories in this little place, but I knew that in the end, this was just a house, and I would carry all the memories with me in my heart.
As I stood there, Jesus entered the room, and He hugged me. He was also sad to leave. After all, this was the only home that He had ever known. He had friends here. For Him, Nazareth was the foreign land. Even though I had always talked to Him about our family in Nazareth, they were strangers to Him.
We left early in the morning with not much more than what we were wearing, as if God always wanted us to rely on Him. “Blessed is the man that trusts in God,” I kept telling myself.
A lot of our neighbors woke up early to come wish us farewell. We hugged them, fully conscious that most likely we would never see them again. My neighbor Esther hugged me tightly while she cried: “Mary, what will I do without you?”
The men helped us carry our simple luggage which was mostly made up of some of Jesus’ toys and games that He wanted to take with Him, Joseph’s most prized carpentry tools and some of our clothing. All I took with me was my journal which was basically a lot of parchment papers tied together with a cord, a blanket that I had knitted for Jesus when He was still a baby, and my favorite tapestry which reminded me of heaven because of its peaceful blue colors.
We arrived to the Nile river where the boat that would take us to Alexandria was waiting for us. It looked to me like a flimsy woven basket. We walked up the flank with many other travelers, humble families like us. We tried to find room amongst all the animals that were also taking space on deck. We sat in a corner. I closed my eyes, and said a silent prayer to God: “Please, keep us safe as we travel in this feeble little boat.” Maybe the desert was not so bad after all.
When the sailors gave the orders to set sail, we gave our final good-bye to our neighbors and friends, and to Heliopolis, our home away from home. I hugged Joseph and Jesus. They were my biggest treasure, everything else was replaceable.
As the hours passed, the day turned hotter and hotter. I tried to protect Jesus from the mosquito bites which were very common on the Nile River. We passed a temple filled with young women that were carrying water from the river probably to take up to their gods. Little by little, Egypt, like a dream, was disappearing in front of our eyes.
We traveled for two days until we finally reached Alexandria. I had never seen anything like it. We got off the boat to be welcomed by sumptuous palaces, temples and gardens. This city was one of the most important in the Egyptian empire. Jesus was looking all around Him in awe at the diversity of people of different races that were walking up and down the streets. I had never seen such a variety of colors. I felt so small and lost in this strange world. We were just a small immigrant family in the middle of a huge city. I saw rich people dressed in elegant clothing coming out of an extravagant mansion. I missed the quiet of the countryside.
We ate some fruits, and then we made our way to the Alexandria port which looked like a beehive because there were people hovering all over the place. We sat on top of some sacks to wait to board the ship that would take us to Israel. The rowers went up and down carrying large jars of wine and animals in cages. The three of us found space as best we could in a corner, surrounded by people of different skin colors and races.
When we finally reached open sea, my heart rested peacefully. We had changed the sandy yellow desert for a blue one. All around me was this beautiful sea in so many shades of blue that I had never seen before. The sea salt sprinkled my face for the first time. Next to me, Jesus had leaned His head against Joseph and had fallen peacefully asleep. I prayed to God for our protection and the protection of all the people traveling with us.
Two days and two nights lasted this part of our journey. We finally saw the towers of Joppe (Jaffa), and my heart jumped with joy. Israel, my home country, was welcoming us back. We got off the boat singing psalms of thanksgiving. Joseph bought something to eat, and even though I would have liked to pass by Bethlehem to visit Matthias and Joanna, God had advised Joseph in a dream to bypass it and go directly to Nazareth.
We took the Via Maris and joined a caravan that was headed towards the region of Damascus. They told us that it would take us three days to get to Nazareth. The closer we got, the more familiar the landscape became. Even the smells were different from those of Egypt.
Just as promised, on the afternoon of the third day, we spotted our little town, like a baby lamb hiding at the foot of the mountain. I got teary-eyed. All at once, all the memories came rushing into my mind: my parents, my wedding, the visit from Angel Gabriel... I gave thanks to God for bringing us back alive and well. I grabbed Jesus by the hand and I showed Him our beautiful Nazareth. We were finally home after seven long years. Thank You, Lord.
Reflection:
Mary’s faith was unwavering and she remained steadfast during difficult times because she was securely rooted in the knowledge that God loved her. We too are asked to “know and believe the love God has for us.” (1) When I am undergoing difficult times, do I blame God for my suffering or do I cling hard to the Lord, recognizing that in the midst of my pain, He still loves me and cares for me?
Copyright © 2020 Christy Romero. All rights reserved.
References:
1. 1 John 4:16
Resources from the following books are being used on this journey:
1. The Mystical City of God: A Popular Abridgement of the Divine History and Live of the Virgin Mother of God by Venerable Mary of
Agreda
2. The World’s First Love: Mary, Mother of God by Fulton J. Sheen
3. Las Palabras Calladas: Diario de Maria de Nazaret by Pedro Miguel Lamet
4. My Soul Magnifies the Lord: A Scriptural Journey with Mary by Jeanne Kun
All Bible references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise specified.
Mother Mary teaches us with her example to trust God & His love for us.
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