Friday, December 28, 2012 - Litany Lane Blog:
Exile, First John 1:1-5, Psalms 124, Matthew 2:13-18, Feast of the Holy Innocents, Flight into Egypt, Heliopolis EgyptGood Day Bloggers! Joyeux Noelle et Bonne Annee!
Wishing everyone a Blessed Week!
Year of Faith - October 11, 2012 - November 24, 2013
P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Serenity Happens). It has a remarkable way of producing solace, peace, patience and tranquility and of course resolution...God's always available 24/7.
The world begins and ends everyday for someone. We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have
flaws but we also all have the gift of knowledge and free will,
make the most of these gifts. Life on earth is a stepping stone to our eternal home in
Heaven. Its your choice whether to rise towards eternal light or lost to
eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and
survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes
from this earth to Purgatory and/or Heaven is our Soul, our Spirit...it's God's perpetual
gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...
"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012
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December 25, 2012 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
Our Lady came with little Jesus in her arms and she did not give a message, but little Jesus began to speak and said : “I am your peace, live my commandments.” With a sign of the cross, Our Lady and little Jesus blessed us together.
December 2, 2012 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
Dear
children, with motherly love and motherly patience anew I call you to
live according to my Son, to spread His peace and His love, so that, as
my apostles, you may accept God's truth with all your heart and pray for
the Holy Spirit to guide you. Then you will be able to faithfully serve
my Son, and show His love to others with your life. According to the
love of my Son and my love, as a mother, I strive to bring all of my
strayed children into my motherly embrace and to show them the way of
faith. My children, help me in my motherly battle and pray with me that
sinners may become aware of their sins and repent sincerely. Pray also
for those whom my Son has chosen and consecrated in His name. Thank
you."
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Today's Word: exile ex·ile [eg-zahyl]
Origin: 1250–1300; Middle English exil banishment < Latin ex ( s ) ilium, equivalent to exsul banished person + -ium -ium
noun
1. expulsion from one's native land by authoritative decree.
2. the fact or state of such expulsion: to live in exile.
3. a person banished from his or her native land.
4. prolonged separation from one's country or home, as by force of circumstances: wartime exile.
5. anyone separated from his or her country or home voluntarily or by force of circumstances.
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Today's Old Testament Reading - Psalms 124:2-8
2 if Yahweh had not been on our side when people attacked us,3 they would have swallowed us alive in the heat of their anger.
4 Then water was washing us away, a torrent running right over us;
5 running right over us then were turbulent waters.
7 We escaped like a bird from the fowlers' net. The net was broken and we escaped;
8 our help is in the name of Yahweh, who made heaven and earth.
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Today's Epistle - First John 1:5-2:2
5 This is what we have heard from him and are declaring to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.
6 If we say that we share in God's life while we are living in darkness, we are lying, because we are not living the truth.
7 But if we live in light, as he is in light, we have a share in another's life, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say, 'We have no sin,' we are deceiving ourselves, and truth has no place in us;
9 if we acknowledge our sins, he is trustworthy and upright, so that he will forgive our sins and will cleanse us from all evil.
10 If we say, 'We have never sinned,' we make him a liar, and his word has no place in us.
1 My children, I am writing this to prevent you from sinning; but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the upright.
2 He is the sacrifice to expiate our sins, and not only ours, but also those of the whole world.
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Today's Gospel Reading - Mt 2:13-18
When the magi had departed, behold,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.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him."
Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night
and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod,
that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,
Out of Egypt I called my son.
When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi,
he became furious.
He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity
two years old and under,
in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.
Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:
A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loud lamentation;
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she would not be consoled,
since they were no more.
Lectio
Through the departure of the Magi this text is connected to four passages that have preceded it - that is to the story of their visit. The following context covers a period of many years following the death of Herod and also telling of the return of Joseph, Mary and Jesus to Palestine and their settling down in Nazareth.
The text of the Gospel of the infancy
according to Matthew, is contrasted with that which appears in the
account of the slavery in Egypt and the Exodus. This is a combination of
different elements: the name of Joseph which recalls the son of Jacob
who went down to Egypt, the massacre of the children, and the return
from Egypt.
It is an angel of the Lord that comes to Joseph, who finds himself in danger, and suggests the flight into a land that at that time, was one of the outlets for Hebrew emigration. This warning came in a dream and it points to some sort of particular revelation, perhaps more hidden and perhaps requiring deeper consideration. This would again testify to the characteristic wisdom of Mary's spouse. The flight of Joseph, the child and the mother has a temporal characteristic connotation: it happens at night. We find two Old Testament citations, which throw light upon the events being recounted. Hosea and Jeremiah are cited. After the first citation, short and to the point, the scene moves to Herod who orders the systematic killing of the children of Bethlehem and its surrounds; this agrees with other historical sources that describe him as a ruler without scruples, ready to kill even his own children to keep in power. The final Old Testament citation, which is much longer, closes the section. It takes up the lament of the prophet Jeremiah regarding the Assyrian deportation; the Evangelist locates the slaughter that takes place at the very heart of the suffering people of God.
Meditatio
Recalling the experience of exile and slavery of the people of Egypt and their return to their homeland recalls for us the Passover of the Hebrews, thus opening the passage to its greater meaning.
Furthermore, the perspective given by the text underlines the accomplishment of the Word of God within human experience, even in those people who are the most crewel.
From this emerges the readiness of God to protect the gift given to humankind throughout history: his own Son. But the Son of God is not preserved from pain, another reason for us to grasp the future characteristic of the Easter event. Jesus is saved at this moment so that he can in the future announce the Word in order to give life when the time comes.
And the protector is Joseph, a wise man, who knows how to listen (see Mt 1,20 & 2,19) and act accordingly.
Herod accomplishes his slaughter, driven by his fear of loosing his power and infuriated by failed success of his attempted deception of the Magi. The text expresses it as if it was he who was deceived, and thus it shows the evil reasoning of power, its arrogance that believes that the one who opposes is always wrong.
So we are drawn to ask ourselves why God allows all this. But perhaps this question may conceal our responsibility: our greed and thirst for power, our roots of cruelty that history experiences in every age. And so God answers the question regarding "the why of evil", and he does it not with words but through incarnation in this our history. Thus establishing a history of salvation.
That is why Easter, with its light, is on the horizon at Christmas.
Oratio
So that we might learn from and listen to the Word and put into practice.
For all those who are forced to flee their homeland.
So that we might be aware of the struggles brought about by every form of greed and power seeking, and thus be protected from it.
For all the wounded children of today, the hungry, child-soldiers, the sexually exploited, the sexually abused.
Contemplatio
The text invites us to look into history with the eyes of faith, a history God has chosen to be present to be present in, even beyond all our imaginings. At the same time, God is inviting us to take responsibility for those who, for different reasons, suffer persecution and displacement
Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.
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Featured Item of the Day from Litany Lane
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Saint of the Day: Feast of the Holy Innocents
Feast Day: December 28
The Massacre of the Innocents is the biblical narrative of infanticide and gendercide by Herod the Great, the Roman appointed King of the Jews. The historicity of the incident is "an open question that probably can never be definitively decided", but according to the Gospel of Matthew Herod ordered the execution of all young male children in the village of Bethlehem, so as to avoid the loss of his throne to a newborn King of the Jews whose birth had been announced to him by the Magi. In typical Matthean style it is understood as the fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying, A voice was heard in Ramah, Weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children."
The number of infants killed is not stated, however the Holy Innocents have been claimed as the first Christian martyrs.
Biblical account
In Matthew's account, magi from the east go to Judea in search of the newborn king of the Jews, having "seen his star in the east". The King, Herod the Great,
directs them to Bethlehem, and asks them to let him know who this king
is when they find him. They find Jesus and honor him, but an angel tells them not to alert Herod, and they return home by another way.
The Massacre of the Innocents is at Matthew 2:16–18, although the preceding verses form the context:
When [the Magi] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Get up, he said, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him. So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son." When Herod realised that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."
Historicity
Estimates of the number of infants at the time in Bethlehem, a town
with a total population of about 1000, would be about twenty. The single account of the Massacre comes in the Gospel of Matthew: it is not mentioned elsewhere in the gospels or by the well-known Roman Jewish historian, Josephus
(37 – c. 100). There are numerous theories both for and against the
historicity of the event itself. The general consensus currently is
that, while the massacre certainly wouldn't have been impossible and may
even have been likely, given other documented actions of King Herod, it
cannot be positively verified outside of the biblical source. Worth
noting is that the difference of historical opinion tends to align with
whether or not the scholar in question views the biblical New Testament
narratives as historically valuable or not, with those (Christian and
non-Christian) crediting the New Testament as at least quasi-historical
willing to accept the possibility, while those skeptical of the New
Testament's historicity tending to doubt the massacre's occurrence.
Amongst those historians who doubt the massacre's historicity, Geza Vermes and E. P. Sanders regard the story as part of a creative hagiography. Robert Eisenman
argues that the story may have its origins in Herod's murder of his own
sons, an act which made a deep impression at the time and which was
recorded by Josephus. Other arguments against historicity include the silence
of Josephus (who does record several other examples of Herod’s
willingness to commit such acts to protect his power, noting that he
"never stopped avenging and punishing every day those who had chosen to
be of the party of his enemies") and the views that the story is an apologetic device or a constructed fulfilment of prophesy.
David Hill acknowledges that the episode "contains nothing that is
historically impossible," but adds that Matthew's "real concern is ...
with theological reflection on the theme of OT fulfillment". Stephen Harris and Raymond Brown
similarly contend that Matthew's purpose is to present Jesus as the
Messiah, and the Massacre of the Innocents as the fulfillment of
passages in Hosea (referring to the exodus), and in Jeremiah (referring to the Babylonian exile). Brown also sees the story as patterned on the Exodus account of the birth of Moses and the killing of the Hebrew firstborn by Pharaoh.
Of those scholars willing to grant the massacre's historicity, R. T. France
argues for plausibility on the grounds, inter alia, that “the murder of
a few infants in a small village [is] not on a scale to match the more
spectacular assassinations recorded by Josephus”. Schnackenburg follows this line also,
and Gordon Franz points to Josephus' failure to mention other pivotal
events in the first century AD, such as "the episode of the golden Roman
shields in Jerusalem which was the cause of the bad blood between Herod
Antipas and Pontus (sic) Pilate". In similar vein Barclay follows Carr in finding Josephus' silence not relevant, drawing a parallel with the diarist John Evelyn's failure to mention the massacre at Glencoe.
Maier argues that sceptics have tended to "regard opinion as fact, and
have largely avoided a careful historical search into the parameters of
the problem". After analysing the arguments against the historicity of
the infant massacre Maier concludes they all "have very serious flaws". Maier follows Jerry Knoblet in arguing for historicity based on the "identical personality profiles that emerge of Herod" in both Matthew and Josephus;
Later writings
The story's first appearance in any source other than Matthew is in the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James of c.150 AD, which excludes the Flight into Egypt and switches the attention of the story to the infant John the Baptist:
"And when Herod knew that he had been mocked by the Magi, in a rage he sent murderers, saying to them: Slay the children from two years old and under. And Mary, having heard that the children were being killed, was afraid, and took the infant and swaddled Him, and put Him into an ox-stall. And Elizabeth, having heard that they were searching for John, took him and went up into the hill-country, and kept looking where to conceal him. And there was no place of concealment. And Elizabeth, groaning with a loud voice, says: O mountain of God, receive mother and child. And immediately the mountain was cleft, and received her. And a light shone about them, for an angel of the Lord was with them, watching over them."
The first non-Christian reference to the massacre is recorded four centuries later by Macrobius (c. 395-423), who writes in his Saturnalia:
"When he [emperor Augustus] heard that among the boys in Syria under two years old whom Herod, king of the Jews, had ordered to kill, his own son was also killed, he said: it is better to be Herod's pig, than his son."
The story assumed an important place in later Christian tradition;
Byzantine liturgy estimated 14,000 Holy Innocents while an early Syrian
list of saints stated the number at 64,000. Coptic sources raise the number to 144,000 and place the event on 29 December. Taking the narrative literally and judging from the estimated population of Bethlehem, the Catholic Encyclopedia
(1907–12) more soberly suggested that these numbers were inflated, and
that probably only between six and twenty children were killed in the
town, with a dozen or so more in the surrounding areas.
Coventry Carol
The "Coventry Carol" is a Christmas carol dating from the 16th century. The carol was performed in Coventry in England as part of a mystery play called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. The play depicts the Christmas story from chapter two in the Gospel of Matthew. The carol refers to the Massacre of the Innocents, in which Herod ordered all male infants under the age of two in Bethlehem to be killed.
The lyrics of this haunting carol represent a mother's lament for her
doomed child. It is the only carol that has survived from this play. The
author is unknown. The oldest known text was written down by Robert
Croo in 1534, and the oldest known printing of the melody dates from
1591. The carol is traditionally sung a cappella.
In the arts
Medieval liturgical drama recounted Biblical events, including Herod's slaughter of the innocents. The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors, performed in Coventry, England, included a haunting song about the episode, now known as the Coventry Carol. The Ordo Rachelis tradition of four plays includes the Flight into Egypt, Herod's succession by Archelaus,
the return from Egypt, as well as the Massacre all centred on Rachel
weeping in fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy. These events were
likewise in one of the Medieval N-Town Plays.
The theme of the "Massacre of the Innocents" has provided artists of
many nationalities with opportunities to compose complicated depictions
of massed bodies in violent action. It was an alternative to the Flight into Egypt in cycles of the Life of the Virgin. It decreased in popularity in Gothic art, but revived in the larger works of the Renaissance, when artists took inspiration for their "Massacres" from Roman reliefs of the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs to the extent that they showed the figures heroically nude.
The horrific subject matter of the Massacre of the Innocents also
provided a comparison of ancient brutalities with early modern ones
during the period of religious wars that followed the Reformation - Bruegel's versions show the soldiers carrying banners with the Habsburg double-headed eagle (often used at the time for Ancient Roman soldiers).
The 1590 version by Cornelis van Haarlem also seems to reflect the violence of the Dutch Revolt. Guido Reni's early (1611) Massacre of the Innocents, in an unusual vertical format, is at Bologna. The Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens
painted the theme more than once. One version, now in Munich, was
engraved and reproduced as a painting as far away as colonial Peru. Another, his grand Massacre of the Innocents is now at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. The French painter Nicolas Poussin painted The Massacre of the Innocents (1634) at the height of the Thirty Years' War.
The Childermass, after a traditional name for the Feast of the Holy Innocents, is the opening novel of Wyndham Lewis's trilogy The Human Age. In the novel The Fall (La Chute) by Albert Camus,
the incident is argued by the main character to be the reason why Jesus
chose to let himself be crucified—as he escaped the punishment intended
for him while many others died, he felt responsible and died in guilt. A
similar interpretation is given in José Saramago's controversial The Gospel According to Jesus Christ,
but there attributed to Joseph, Jesus' father, rather than to Jesus
himself. As depicted by Saramago, Joseph knew of Herod's intention to
massacre the children of Bethlehem, but failed to warn the townspeople
and chose only to save his own child. Guilt-ridden ever after, Joseph
finally expiates his sin by letting himself be crucified (an event not
narrated in the New Testament).
The Massacre is the opening plot used in the 2006 movie The Nativity Story. The folk group Show of Hands wrote a song from the perspective of the families of the massacre, called "Innocent's song/ Gwithian".
Feast days
The commemoration of the massacre of these "Holy Innocents"—considered by some Christians as the first martyrs for Christ[—first appears as a feast of the western church in the Leonine Sacramentary, dating from about 485. The earliest commemorations were connected with the Feast of the Epiphany, 6 January: Prudentius mentions the Innocents in his hymn on the Epiphany. Leo in his homilies on the Epiphany speaks of the Innocents. Fulgentius of Ruspe (6th century) gives a homily De Epiphania, deque Innocentum nece et muneribus magorum ("On Epiphany, and on the murder of the Innocents and the gifts of the Magi").
Today, the date of Holy Innocents' Day, also called Childermas or Children's Mass or The Innocents, varies. The twenty-seventh of December is the date for West Syrians (Syriac Orthodox Church, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, and Maronite Church) and East Syrians (Chaldeans and Syro-Malabar Catholic Church). Twenty-eighth December is the date in the Church of England, the Lutheran Church and the Roman Catholic Church (in which, except on Sunday, violet vestments were worn before 1961, instead of red, the normal liturgical colour for celebrating martyrs). The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the feast on 29 December. Russian Orthodox Church celebrates on 11 January.
In the 1962 Roman Catholic calendar, the violet vestments for Holy
Innocents were eliminated (red used instead), and if December 28 fell on
Sunday, this feast was commemorated on the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas. This was changed in a later revision of the Church calendar.
In Spain, Hispanic America and the Philippines, December 28 is a day for pranks, equivalent to April Fool's Day in many countries. Pranks (bromas) are also known in Spain as inocentadas and their victims are called inocentes,
or alternatively, the pranksters are the "inocentes" and the victims
should not be angry at them, since they could not have committed any sin. One of the more famous of these traditions is the annual "Els Enfarinats" festival of Ibi in Alicante, where the inocentadas dress up in full military dress and incite a flour fight.
Various Catholic countries had a tradition (no longer widely observed)
of role reversal between children and their adult educators, including boy bishops, perhaps a Christianized version of the Roman annual feast of the Saturnalia
(when even slaves played "masters" for a day). In some cultures, such
as medieval England and France, it was said to be an unlucky day, when
no new project should be started.
In addition, there was a medieval custom of refraining where possible
from work on the day of the week on which the feast of "Innocents Day"
had fallen for the whole of the following year until the next Innocents
Day. This was presumably mainly observed by the better-off. Philippe de Commynes, the minister of King Louis XI of France
tells in his memoirs how the king observed this custom, and describes
the trepidation he felt when he had to inform the king of an emergency
on the day
References
- Albright, W. F. and C. S. Mann. "Matthew." The Anchor Bible Series. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1971.
- Clarke, Howard W. The Gospel of Matthew and its Readers: A Historical Introduction to the First Gospel. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003.
- Robert Eisenman, 1997. James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Viking/Penguin.
- Goulder, M. D. Midrash and Lection in Matthew. London: SPCK, 1974.
- Jones, Alexander. The Gospel According to St. Matthew. London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1965.
- Schweizer, Eduard. The Good News According to Matthew. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1975.
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Today's Snippet I: Flight into Egypt
Book 4, Chapter 8
The Mystical City of God,
The Divine History and
Life of The Virgin Mother of God
THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT.
Our heavenly Pilgrims left Jerusalem and entered upon their
banishment while yet the silence and obscurity of night held sway. They
were full of solicitude for the Pledge of heaven, which they carried with them
into a strange and unknown land. Although faith and hope strengthened them (for
in no other beings could these virtues be more firmly and securely established
than in our Queen and her most faithful spouse), nevertheless the Lord afforded
them occasion for anxiety. Their love for the Infant Jesus would naturally
excite in them anxiety and suffering on an occasion like this. They knew not
what would happen during such a long journey, nor when it should end, nor how
they would fare in Egypt, where they would be entire strangers, nor what comfort
or convenience they would find there for raising the Child, nor even how they
would be able to ward off great sufferings from Him on the way to Egypt.
Therefore the hearts of these holy Parents were filled with many misgivings and
anxious thoughts when they parted with so much haste from their lodging-place;
but their sorrow was much relieved when the ten thousand heavenly courtiers
above mentioned again appeared to them in human forms and in their former
splendor and beauty, and when they again changed the night into the brightest
day for the holy Pilgrims. As they set forth from the portals of the city the
holy angels humiliated themselves and adored the incarnate Word in the arms of
the Virgin Mother. They also encouraged Her by again offering their homage and
service, stating that it was the will of the Lord that they guide and accompany
Her on the journey.
In this town of Gaza they remained two days, for saint Joseph
and the beast of burden which carried the Queen were worn out by the fatigue of
the journey. From that place they sent back the servant of saint Elisabeth,
taking care to caution him not to tell any one of their whereabouts. But God
provided still more effectually against this danger; for He took away from this
man all remembrance of what saint Joseph had charged him to conceal, so that he
retained only his message to saint Elisabeth. Most holy Mary expended the
presents sent by Elisabeth in entertaining the poor; for She, who was Mother of
the poor, could not bear to pass them by unassisted. Of the clothes sent to Her
She made a cloak for the divine Infant, and one for saint Joseph, to shelter
Them from the discomforts of the season and of the journey. She also used other
things in their possession for the comfort of her Child and of saint
Joseph. The most prudent Virgin would not rely on miraculous assistance whenever
She could provide for the daily needs by her own diligence and labor; for in
these matters She desired to subject Herself to the natural order and depend
upon her own efforts. During the two days which they spent in that city the most
pure Mary, in order to enrich it with great blessings, performed some wonderful
deeds. She freed two sick persons from the danger of death and cured their
ailments. She restored to another person, a crippled woman, the use of her
limbs. In the souls of many, who met Her and conversed with Her, She caused
divine effects of the knowledge of God and of a change of life. All of
them felt themselves moved to praise their Creator. But neither Mary nor Joseph
spoke a word about their native country, nor of the destination or object of
their journey; for if this information had been added to the public notice
caused by their wonderful actions, the attention of Herod's agents might have
been drawn toward them, and they might have found sufficient inducement to
follow them after their departure.
On the third day after our Pilgrims had touched Gaza, they
departed from that city for Egypt. Soon leaving the inhabited parts of
Palestine, they entered the sandy deserts of Bersabe, which they were obliged to
traverse for sixty leagues in order to arrive and take their abode in Heliopolis,
the present Cairo in Egypt. This journey through the desert consumed a number of
days, for the distance they could travel each day was but short, not only on
account of the laborious progress over the deep sand, but also on account of the
hardships occasioned by the want of shelter. There were many incidents on their
way through this solitude; I will mention some of them, from which others can be
conjectured; for it is not necessary to relate all of them. In order to
understand how much Mary and Joseph and also the Infant Jesus suffered on their
pilgrimage, it must be remembered that the Almighty permitted his Onlybegotten,
with his most holy Mother and saint Joseph, to suffer the inconveniences and
hardships naturally connected with travel through this desert. And although the
heavenly Lady made no complaints, yet She was much afflicted, which was also
true of her most faithful husband. For both of them suffered many personal
inconveniences and discomforts, while the Mother, in addition thereto, was
afflicted still more on account of the sufferings of her Son and of saint
Joseph; and the latter was deeply grieved not to be able by his diligence and
care to ease the hardships of the Child and his Spouse.
During all this journey of sixty leagues through desert they
had no other night-shelter than the sky and open air; moreover, it was in the
time of winter, for journey took place in the month of February, only six days
after the Purification, as was indicated in the last chapter. In the first night
on these sandy plains they rested at the foot of a small hill, this being the
only protection they could find. The Queen of heaven with the Child in her arms
seated Herself on the earth, and with her husband She ate of the victuals
brought with them from Gaza. The Empress of heaven also nursed the Infant Jesus
at her breast and He on his part rejoiced his Mother and her husband by his
contentment. In order to furnish them with some kind of shelter against the open
air; however narrow and humble it might be, saint Joseph formed a sort of tent
for the divine Word and most holy Mary by means of his cloak and some sticks.
During that night the ten thousand angels who, full of marvel, assisted these
earthly Pilgrims in visible human shapes, formed a guard around their King and
Queen. The great Lady perceived that her divine Son offered up to the eternal
Father the hardships and labors both of Himself and of Mary and Joseph. In these
prayers and in the other acts of his deified Soul, the Queen joined him for the
greater part of the night. The divine Infant slept for a short time in her arms,
while She continued wakeful and engaged in heavenly colloquies with the Most
High and his angels. Saint Joseph slept upon the ground, resting his head upon
the chest, which contained the clothing and other articles of their baggage.
On the next day they pursued their journey and their little
store of fruit and bread was soon exhausted, that they began to suffer great
want and to feel the hunger. Although Joseph was more deeply concerned, yet both
of them felt this privation very much. On one of the first days of their journey
they partook of no sustenance until nine o'clock at night, not having any more
even of the coarse and poor food which until then had sustained them in their
hardships and labor. As nature demanded some refreshment after the exertion and
weariness of travel, and as there was no way of supplying their want by natural
means, the heavenly Lady addressed Herself to the Most High in these words:
"Eternal, great and powerful God, I give Thee thanks and bless Thee for thy
magnificent bounty; and also that, without my merits, only on account of thy
merciful condescension, Thou gavest me life and being and preservest me in it,
though I am but dust and a useless creature. I have not made a proper return for
all these benefits; therefore how can I ask for myself what I cannot repay? But,
my Lord and Father; look upon thy Onlybegotten and grant me what is necessary to
sustain my natural life and also that of my spouse, so that I may serve thy
Majesty and thy Word made flesh for the salvation of men."
In order that the clamors of the sweetest Mother might
proceed from yet greater tribulation, the Most High permitted the elements to
afflict them more than at other times and in addition to the sufferings caused
by their fatigue, destitution and hunger. For there arose a storm of wind and
rain, which harassed and blinded them by its fury. This hardship grieved still
more the tender-hearted and loving Mother on account of the delicate Child,
which was not yet fifty days old. Although She tried to cover and protect Him as
much as possible, yet She could not prevent Him from feeling the inclemency of
the weather, so that He shed tears and shivered from the cold in the same manner
as other children are wont to do. Then the anxious Mother, making use of her
power as Queen and Mistress of creatures, commanded the elements not to afflict
their Creator, but to afford Him shelter and refreshment, and wreak their
vengeance upon Her alone. And, as related once before, at the occasion of the
birth of Christ and of the journey to Jerusalem, again the wind immediately
moderated and the storm abated, not daring to approach Mother and Child. In
return for this loving forethought, the Infant Jesus commanded his angels to
assist his kindest Mother and to serve Her as a shield against the inclemency of
the weather. They immediately complied and constructed a resplendent and
beautiful globe round about and over their incarnate God, his Mother and her
spouse. In this they were protected and defended more effectually than all the
wealthy and powerful of the world in their palaces and rich garments. The same
they did several times during the journey through the desert.
Nevertheless, they were in want of food, and they were
destitute of other things unprovidable by their own mere human effort. But the
Lord allowed them to fall into this need in order that, listening to the
acceptable prayers of his Spouse, He might make provision also for this by the
hands of the angels. They brought them delicious bread and well-seasoned fruits,
and moreover a most delicious drink; all of which they administered and served
with their own hands. Then all of them together sang hymns of praise and
thanksgiving to the Lord, who gives food to all creatures at opportune times, in
order that the poor may eat and be filled (Ps. 135, 25) whose eyes and hopes are
fixed upon his kingly Providence and bounty. Of such a kind was the delicate
feast, with which the Lord regaled his three exiled Wanderers in the desert of
Bersabe (III Ivings 19, 3), for it was the same desert in which Elias, fleeing
from Jezabel, was comforted by the hearth cake, brought to him by the angel in
order that he might travel to Horeb mount.
So then the Infant Jesus, with his Mother and saint Joseph,
reached the inhabited country of Egypt. On entering the towns the divine Infant,
in the arms of his Mother, raised his eyes and his hands to the Father asking
for the salvation of these inhabitants held captive by satan. And immediately He
made use of his sovereign and divine power and drove the demons from the idols
and hurled them to the infernal abyss. Like lightning flashed from the clouds
they darted forth and descended to the lowermost caverns of hell and darkness
(Luke 10, 4). At the same instant the idols crashed to the ground, the altars
fell to pieces, and the temples crumbled to ruins. The cause of these marvelous
effects were known to the heavenly Lady, for She united her prayers with those
of her most holy Son as Co-operatrix of his salvation. Saint Joseph also knew
this to be the work of the incarnate Word; and He praised and extolled Him in
holy admiration. But the demons, although they felt the divine power, knew not
whence this power proceeded.
The Egyptian people were astounded at these inexplicable
happenings; although among the more learned, ever since the sojourn of Jeremias
in Egypt, an ancient tradition was current that a King of the Jews would come
and that the temples of the idols would be destroyed. Yet of this prophecy the
common people had no knowledge, nor did the learned know how it was to be
fulfilled: and therefore the terror and confusion was spread among all of them,
as was prophesied by Isaias (Is. 9, 1). In this disturbance and fear, some,
reflecting on these events, came to our great Lady and saint Joseph; and, in
their curiosity at seeing these strangers in their midst, they also spoke to
them about the ruin of their temples and their idols. Making use of this
occasion the Mother of wisdom began to undeceive these people, speaking to them
of the true God and teaching them that He is the one and only Creator of heaven
and earth, who is alone to be adored, and acknowledged as God; that all others
are but false and deceitful gods, nothing more than the wood, or clay, or metal
of which they are made, having neither eyes, nor ears, nor any power; that the
same artisans that made them, and any other man, could destroy them at pleasure;
since any man is more noble and powerful than they; that the oracles which they
gave forth were answers of the lying and deceitful demons within them; and that
the latter had no power, since there is but one true God.
The heavenly Lady was so sweet and kind in her words, and at
the same time so full of life and force; her appearance was so charming, and all
her interaction was accompanied by such salutary effects, that the rumor of the
arrival of these strange Pilgrims quickly spread about in the different towns,
and many people gathered to see and hear Them. Moreover, the powerful prayers of
the incarnate Word wrought a change of hearts, and the crumbling of the idols
caused an incredible commotion among these people, instilling into their minds
knowledge of the true God and sorrow for their sins without their knowing whence
or through whom these blessings came to them. Jesus, Mary and Joseph pursued
their way through many towns of Egypt, performing these and many other miracles
driving out the demons not only from the idols, but out of many bodies possessed
by them, curing many that were grievously and dangerously ill, enlightening the
hearts by the doctrines of truth and eternal life. By these temporal benefits
and others, so effectual in moving the ignorant, earthly-minded people, many
were drawn to listen to the instructions of Mary and Joseph concerning a good
and salutary life.
The traditions, which in many parts of Egypt kept alive the
remembrance of wonders wrought by the incarnate Word, gave rise to differences
of opinion among the sacred and other writers in regard to the city, in which
our Exiles lived during their stay in Egypt. Some of them assert that they dwelt
in this city, some in another. But all of them may be right and in accordance
with facts, since each one may be speaking of a different period of the sojourn
of our Pilgrims in Memphis, or Babylon of Egypt, or in Matarieh; for they
visited not only these cities, but many others. I for my part have been informed
that they passed through these and then reached Heliopolis, where they took up
their abode. Their holy guardian angels instructed the heavenly Queen and saint
Joseph, that They were to settle in this city. For, besides the ruin of the
temples and idols, which, just as in other places, took place at their arrival
here, the Lord had resolved to perform still other miracles for his glory and
for the rescue of souls; and the inhabitants of this city, (according to the
good fortune already prognosticated in its name as "City of the Sun"),
were to see the Sun of justice and grace arise over them and shine upon them.
Following these orders, saint Joseph sought to purchase for a suitable price
some dwelling in the neighborhood; and the Lord ordained that he should find a
poor and humble, yet serviceable house, at small distance from the city, just
such as the Queen of heaven desired.
The most prudent Lady and her spouse, forsaken and destitute
of all temporal help, accommodated themselves joyfully to the poverty of their
little dwelling. Of the three rooms, which it contained, they assigned one to be
the sanctuary or temple of the Infant Jesus under the tender care of the most
pure Mother; there they placed the cradle and her bare couch, until, after some
days, by the labor of the holy spouse, and through the kindness of some pious
women, they could obtain wherewith to cover it. Another room was set aside for
the sleeping place and oratory of saint Joseph. The third served as a workshop
for plying his trade. In view of their great poverty, and of the great
difficulty of sufficient employment as a carpenter, the great Lady resolved to
assist him by the work of her hands to earn a livelihood. She immediately
executed her resolve by seeking to obtain needlework through the intervention of
the pious women, who, attracted by her modesty and sweetness, were beginning to
have interactions with Her. As all that She attended to or busied Herself with
was so perfect, the reputation of her skill soon spread about, so that She never
was in want of employment whereby to eke out the slender means of livelihood for
her Son, the true God and man.
In order to obtain the indispensable victuals and clothing,
furnish the house ever so moderately, and pay the necessary expenses, it seemed
to our Queen that She must employ all day in work and consume the night in
attending to her spiritual exercises. This She resolved upon, not for any
motives of gain, or because She did not continue in her contemplations during
the day; for this was her incessant occupation in the presence of the infant
God, as I have so often said and shall repeat hereafter. But some of the hours,
which She was wont to spend in special exercises, She wished to transfer to the
night-time in order to be able to extend the hours of manual labor, not being
minded to ask or expect God's miraculous assistance for anything which She could
attain by greater diligence and additional labor on her own part. In all such
cases we ask for miraculous help more for our own convenience than on account of
necessity. The most prudent Queen asked the eternal Father to provide sustenance
for her divine Son; but at the same time She continued to labor. Like one who
does not trust in herself, or in her own efforts, She united prayer with her
labors, in order to obtain the necessities of life like other men.
On account of the excessive heat prevailing in Egypt, and on
account of many disorders rampant among the people, the distempers of the
Egyptians were wide-spread and grievous. During the years of the stay of the
Infant Jesus and his most holy Mother, pestilence devastated Heliopolis and
other places. On this account, and on account of the report of their wonderful
deeds, multitudes of people came to them from all parts of the country and
returned home cured in body and soul. In order that the grace of the Lord might
flow more abundantly, and in order that his kindest Mother might have assistance
in her works of mercy, God, at the instance of the heavenly Mistress, ordained
saint Joseph as her helper in the teaching and healing of the infirm. For this
purpose He was endowed with new light and power of healing. The holy Mary began
to make use of his assistance in the third year of their stay in Egypt; so that
now he ordinarily taught and cured the men, while the blessed Lady attended to
the women. Incredible was the fruit resulting from their labors in the souls of
men for her uninterrupted beneficence and the gracious efficacy of her words
drew all toward our Queen, and her modesty and holiness filled them with devoted
love. They offered her many presents and large possessions, anxious to see Her
make use of them: but never did She receive anything for Herself, or reserve it
for her own use; for they continued to provide for their wants by the labor of
her hands and the earnings of saint Joseph. When at time the blessed Lady was
offered some gift that seemed serviceable and proper for helping the needy and
the poor, She would accept it for that purpose. Only with this understanding
would She ever yield to the pious and affectionate importunities of devout
persons; and even then She often made them a present in return of things made by
her own hands. From what I have related we can form some idea how great and how
numerous were the miracles wrought by the holy Family during their seven years'
stay in Egypt and Heliopolis; for it would be impossible to enumerate and
describe all of them.
Neither the tongue of creatures can describe nor intellect
comprehend, the vast merits and increase of sanctity accumulating in the most
holy Mary through these continued and wonderful works; for in all things She
acted with a prudence more than angelic. What moved Her to the greatest
admiration, love and praise of the Almighty was to see how, at the
intercession of Herself and her Son for the holy Innocents, his providence
showed itself so liberal toward them. She knew as if She were present the great
number of children that were killed and that all of them, though some were only
eight days, two or six months old, and none of them over two years, had the use
of their reason; that they all received a high knowledge of the being of God,
perfect love, faith and hope, with which they performed heroic acts of faith,
worship, and love of God, reverence and compassion for their parents. They
prayed for their parents and, in reward for their sufferings, obtained for them
light and grace for advance in spiritual things. They willingly submitted to
martyrdom, in spite of the tenderness of their age, which made their sufferings
so much the greater and consequently augmented their merits. A multitude of
angels assisted them and bore them to limbo or to the bosom of Abraham. By their
arrival they rejoiced the holy ancients and confirmed them in the hope of speedy
liberation. All these were effects of the prayers of the divine Child and his
Mother. Aware of all these wonders, She was inflamed with ardor and exclaimed:
"Praise the Lord, ye children"; and joined with them in the praise of
the Author of these magnificent works, so worthy of his Goodness and
Omnipotence. Mary alone knew of them and appreciated them properly.
WORDS OF THE QUEEN. (The Virgin Mary speaks to Sister Mary of
Agreda, Spain.)
My daughter, in what thou hast written I wish that thou learn
a lesson from the very sorrow and apprehension with which thou hast performed
this task. Well-founded is thy sorrow to see how such a noble creature as man,
made according to the likeness and image of the Lord, endowed with such divine
qualities, and gifted with the power of knowing, loving, seeing, and enjoying
God eternally, should allow himself to be degraded and defiled by such brutal
and abominable passions as to shed the innocent blood of those who can do no
harm to any one. This should induce thee to weep over the ruin of so many souls;
especially in the times in which thou livest, when that same ambition which
incited Herod has kindled such great hatred and enmity among the children of the
Church, occasioning the ruin of countless souls and causing the waste and loss
of the blood of my most holy Son, poured out for the salvation of men. Do thou
bitterly deplore this loss.
But likewise be warned by what thou hast seen in others;
ponder the effects of passions admitted into the heart; for if once they have
mastered the heart, they will either smother it in lust when it finds success,
or consume it with wrath at meeting any opposition. Fear thou, my daughter, this
danger, not only on account of the results thou seest of ambition in Herod, but
also on account of what thou seest going on every hour in other persons.
Be very careful not to allow thyself to be mastered by anything, be it ever so
small; for in order to start a great conflagration the smallest spark is
sufficient. I have often repeated to thee this same warning, and I shall
continue to do so more often in the future; for the greatest difficulty in
practicing virtue consists in dying to all that is pleasurable to the
senses. Thou canst not be a fit instrument in the hands of the Lord, such as He
desires thee to be, if thou dost not cleanse thy faculties even of the images of
all creatures, so that they do not find entrance into thy desires. I wish it to
be to thee an inexorable law that all things, except God, his angels and
saints, be to thee as if they did not exist. These should be thy sole
possession; on this account the Lord has opened to thee his secrets, honors thee
with his familiarity and intimacy, and for this purpose also do I honor thee
with mine, that thou neither live nor wish to live without the Lord.
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Today's Snippet II: Heliopolis, Egypt
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| Rive Nile Delta, Eqypt |
Heliopolis (Ancient Greek: Ἡλιούπολις, "City of the Sun" or "City of Helios"; Egyptian: ỉwnw; Ain Shams, "Eye of the Sun") was one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt, the capital of the 13th Lower Egyptian nome that was located five miles (8 km) east of the Nile to the north of the apex of the Nile Delta. Heliopolis has been occupied since the Predynastic Period, with extensive building campaigns during the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Today it is mostly destroyed; its temples and other buildings were used for the construction of medieval Cairo. Most information about the ancient city comes from textual sources.
Beneath a maze of busy narrow streets of a middle and lower-class
district, lie vast hidden remains of ancient Heliopolis about fifteen to
twenty metres down. This ancient Egyptian site lies predominantly in
the northern Cairo suburb of Al-Matariyyah, and also covers the districts of Ain Shams and Tel Al-Hisn east of the Nile. It also straddles the Cairo Metro line 1–2 km west of the edge of the 20th century modern Heliopolis, a suburb in the district Masr al-Gidedah
The site of Heliopolis has now been brought for the most part under
cultivation and suburbanization, but some ancient city walls of crude
brick can be seen in the fields, a few granite blocks bearing the name
of Ramesses II
remain, and the position of the great Temple of Re-Atum is marked by
the Al-Masalla obelisk. Archaeological sites below including recent tomb
discoveries.
The only surviving remnant of Heliopolis is the Temple of Re-Atum obelisk located in Al-Masalla of the Al-Matariyyah district. It was erected by Senusret I of the Twelfth dynasty, and still stands in its original position. The 68 ft (20.73 m) high red granite obelisk weighs 120 tons (240,000 lbs).
History
Egyptian Heliopolis
The Egyptian god Atum, was the chief deity of the city Iunu (Heliopolis), who was worshipped in the primary temple, known as Per-Aat (*Par-ʻĀʼat, 'Great House') and Per-Atum (*Par-ʼAtāma, written pr-ỉtmw 'Temple [lit. 'House'] of Atum"'; Hebrew: פתם Pithom). Iunu was also the original source of the worship of the Ennead pantheon. Although in later times, as Horus gained in prominence, worship focused on the syncretic solar deity Ra-harakhty (literally Ra, [who is] Horus of the Two Horizons).
The main cult of Ra—(or Re) was in Heliopolis, however the High Priests of Ra
are not as well documented as the high priests of other deities. The
Al-Masalla area of the Al-Matariyyah district contains the underground
tombs of High Priests of Ra of the Sixth Dynasty (c. 2345 BCE—2181 BCE), which were found in the southeast corner of the great Temple of Ra—Atum archaeological site.
During the Amarna Period, Pharaoh Akhenaten introduced monotheistic worship of Aton, the deified solar disc, built here a temple named Wetjes Aton (wṯs ỉtn "Elevating the Sun-disc"). Blocks from this temple were later used to build the city walls of medieval Cairo and can be seen in some of the city gates. The cult of the Mnevis bull, an embodiment of the god Ra, had its centre here, and possessed a formal burial ground north of the city.
Egyptian mythology, and later Greco—Roman mythology, said that the phoenix (Bennu), after rising from the ashes of its predecessor, would bring the ashes to the altar of the sun god in Heliopolis.
Greco-Roman Heliopolis
Heliopolis was well known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, being noted by most major geographers of the period, including: Ptolemy, iv. 5. § 54; Herodotus, ii. 3, 7, 59; Strabo, xvii. p. 805; Diodorus, i. 84, v. 57; Arrian, Exp. Alex. iii. 1; Aelian, H. A. vi. 58, xii. 7; Plutarch, Solon. 26, Is. et Osir. 33; Diogenes Laertius, xviii. 8. § 6; Josephus, Ant. Jud. xiii. 3, C. Apion. i. 26; Cicero, De Natura Deorum iii. 21; Pliny the Elder, v. 9. § 11; Tacitus, Ann. vi. 28; Pomponius Mela, iii. 8. The city also merits attention by the Byzantine geographer Stephanus of Byzantium, s. v. Ἡλίουπόλις.
Greek era
Alexander the Great, on his march from Pelusium to Memphis, halted at this city (Arrian, iii. 1); and, according to Macrobius (Saturn. i. 23), Baalbek, or the Syrian Heliopolis, was a priest-colony from its Egyptian namesake.
The temple of Ra was said to have been, to a special degree, a
depository for royal records, and Herodotus states that the priests of
Heliopolis were the best informed in matters of history of all the
Egyptians. Heliopolis flourished as a seat of learning during the Greek
period; the schools of philosophy and astronomy are claimed to have been
frequented by Orpheus, Homer, Pythagoras, Plato, Solon, and other Greek philosophers. From Ichonuphys, who was lecturing there in 308 BC, and who numbered Eudoxus
among his pupils, the Greek mathematician learned the true length of
the year and month, upon which he formed his octaeterid, or period of
eight years or ninety-nine months. Ptolemy II had Manethon, the chief priest of Heliopolis, collect his history of the ancient kings of Egypt from its archives. The later Ptolemies probably took little interest in their "father" Ra, and Alexandria
had eclipsed the learning of Heliopolis; thus with the withdrawal of
royal favour Heliopolis quickly dwindled, and the students of native
lore deserted it for other temples supported by a wealthy population of
pious citizens. By the 1st century BC, in fact, Strabo found the temples deserted, and the town itself almost uninhabited, although priests were still present.
Roman era
In Roman times Heliopolis belonged to the Augustamnica province. Its population probably contained a considerable Arabic element. (Plin. vi. 34.) In Roman times obelisks were taken from its temples to adorn the northern cities of the Delta, and even across the Mediterranean to Rome, including the famed Cleopatra's Needle
that now resides on the Thames embankment, London (this obelisk was
part of a pair, the other being located in Central Park, New York).
Finally the growth of Fustat and Cairo,
only 6 miles (9.7 km) to the southwest, caused the ruins to be
ransacked for building materials. The site was known to the Arabs as ʻAyn Šams ("the well of the sun"), more recently as ʻArab al-Ḥiṣn.
Biblical Heliopolis
Heliopolis was the capital of the Province of Goshen, country that comprised much of the northern Egyptian territory of the Nile Delta.
This was one of three main store-city locations that grain was kept
during the winter months and during the seven year famine discussed in
the Joseph narrative of the Book of Genesis. The city gained recognition as place of bread.
In the time of the major prophets, Isaiah made a reference to the City of the Sun as one of the five cities of Egypt that would come to speak Hebrew. However he made a wordplay on "city of the sun" (’ir hašemeš) by writing ’ir haheres which literally means "city of destruction". These play of words were a prophetic description later reinforced by both Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The Hebrew name, Beth-shemesh, where Beth means "house" and shemesh means "Sun" was also used to describe Heliopolis by Jeremiah. He prophesied this city's fate specifically when he declared that the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, would shatter the obelisks of Heliopolis and burn the temple of the sun in fire. Jeremiah’s contemporary Ezekiel, reinforced this message by saying that the "young men of Aven (or Beth-Aven)
would fall by the sword". Like Isaiah, Ezekiel also made a word play on
the original Hebrew name of Heliopolis that was used in the time of
Joseph, the city of On. The Hebrew word aven means "folly" or "iniquity", so that his reference implied "temple of folly" or "temple of iniquity".
References
- Allen, James Paul. 2001. "Heliopolis". In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, edited by Donald Bruce Redford. Vol. 2 of 3 vols. Oxford, New York, and Cairo: Oxford University Press and The American University in Cairo Press. 88–89
- Redford, Donald Bruce. 1992. "Heliopolis". In The Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman. Vol. 3 of 6 vols. New York: Doubleday. 122–123
- Bilolo, Mubabinge. 1986. Les cosmo-théologies philosophiques d'Héliopolis et d'Hermopolis. Essai de thématisation et de systématisation, (Academy of African Thought, Sect. I, vol. 2), Kinshasa–Munich 1987; new ed., Munich-Paris, 2004.
- Collier, Mark and Manley, Bill. How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: Revised Edition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.
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