If I had to guess what people find to be the most important part of the life of St. Joseph I would think it would be his decision to trust in the message of the angel and take Mary as his wife even though he had every reason not to, and that certainly is valid. I do think however that a second decision in his life was almost as momentous even though it doesn’t get nearly as much attention.
Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared 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.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. (Mt 2:13-15)
Joseph wasn’t just being asked to make a short, well-planned, well-provisioned camping trip with his new family. He was being asked to flee from everything he had, everything and everyone he knew. All his family, gone. All his friends, gone. All his business contacts, and probably even many of his tools, gone. And with no promise as to how long he would have to make a new life in this foreign land. Yet he made this trek without waiting, without planning, without complaining.
I think all of us at some point in our lives are going to hear a call like this, with God asking us to step out in trust into the unknown. That can be a very daunting proposition, particularly when we are responsible for others as well as ourselves – yet that is exactly where Joseph is when faced with this call. Lent seems like the perfect time for us to quiet down our lives enough to perhaps hear an angel’s call. In what way are you being called to Egypt with the Holy Family?
Hello,
Do you really love God?
If ye love me, keep my commandments. -John 14:15
True Sabbath is Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, RC changed the Sabbath day and admits it:
“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change (Saturday Sabbath to Sunday) was her act… And the act is a MARK of her ecclesiastical authority in religious things.” H.F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons. Nov. 11, 1895
How important is to observe the Sabbath
But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.’Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.…-Exodus 31:13, 31:14
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. Matthew 5:17
At the judgement day you can´t say you haven´t been warned!
More info about Sabbath:
http://www.almightywind.com/sabbath/truesabbathday.htm
Thank you for the thoughtful post. I think I am IN my flight to Egypt. I somehow jumped into my Bachelor degree program and now have the degree, I sincerely believe God led me there for so many reasons. I finally got THE job that seems perfectly suited to my degree, skills and innate gifts and they fired me!
As an aside, we are not jews, we are Christians and from the first, in the book of Acts the new Church celebrated the Resurrection day, as our Sabbath.