“But when Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph in Egypt, saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel. For they are dead that sought the child. Who arose, and took the child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. But hearing that Archelaus reigned in Judea in the room of Herod his father, he was afraid to go thither: and being warned in sleep retired into the quarters of Galilee. And coming he dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was said by the prophets: That he shall be called a Nazarene.”
All things fade. Rulers, companies, all that oppose the Divine, will fall in time. To focus on the present strife is to take ugliness into oneself, whereas focusing on the wonderful things happening today acclimates the soul to the beautiful, allowing you to adorn yourself with different forms of beauty. Though sin abounds today, grace abounds the more, and when evil rears its head, God gives greater spiritual blessings to combat hate with love. Now, when the cruel tyrant Herod had fallen beneath the thumb of Divine Justice, which you need never fear, for you are under the wings of Divine Love, the holy angel once again appeared to St. Joseph in his sleep, showing the necessity of holy rest. For the Holy Family was exiled, working to stay alive in a place that was not their home, Joseph working tirelessly for the care and protection of his little family, still took time to open himself to the promptings of angels. So too is the necessity of opening oneself to prayer and listening to the words of Holy Scripture, for without the words of God, the voice of God becomes impossible to distinguish. Knowledge of the voice of love, the voice of self, and the voice of hate is a necessary quality in the spiritual life; this discernment of spirits allows one to follow the fragrance of love with knowledge and precision: “Thy nose is as the tower of Libanus, that looketh towards Damascus” (Song 7:4). The words of the Scriptures aid in this, for the Holy Spirit speaks to you through these words, showing you what I love you looks like and speaks to you words of love. You do not need mystical communications with the Lord to hear his voice and let Him speak to you, when the Scriptures walk with you at every time of your life. This is what is indicated by the vision of Ezechiel in the first chapter of his book: The four living creatures represent the four Gospels, and the wheels beside them represent the other books that help one’s understanding of the Gospels turn. “Withersoever the spirit went, thither as the spirit went the wheels also were lifted up withal, and followed it: for the spirit of life was in the wheels” (Ezechiel 1:20). So too does the Holy Spirit move the words of the Book of Life with your life, that you may always encounter what you need to hear when you open your Bible and let the Lord speak to you. St. Joseph had an angel, you have the Most High Himself. O the loveliness of the words of God. His love is so extraordinary yet so simple, and the more you learn about Him, the more you love Him, for you realize the perfection of His love for you! Returning to the events of which we are speaking, St. Joseph quickly obeys, but sees the path laid out by love to hit an intimidating obstacle in the form of the wicked Archelaus. The Lord, in His perfect justice, understands the weakness of human frailty, and moves the Holy Family rather to Nazareth, where they would be safer. So too does He understand when, despite your best efforts, still you are plagued with some failure, imperfection, or wound that cannot seem to heal. You are just a person, and He understands: “For man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart” (1 Kings 16:7). As long as you are not willfully sitting in what is contrary to the Lord, He sees you struggling to climb the stairs towards Him, loving the little things you do for Him rather than scowling at what you cannot accomplish. The place where they arrive, Nazareth of Galilee, has significance in the names. Galilee means “removal,” and Nazareth “flower,” so too is a removal from the ways of the world into the way of I Love You that is the Christian way the path by which you will bloom into the most beautiful form of yourself. This blooming is becoming a Nazarene, for Nazarene means “holy.” All of the prophets profess that the One to Come would be holy, the Holy of Holies even, but this also applies to you, that the prophets urge you to put down the ways of the world and what is passing and retreat to a life of love, a life madly in love with the Most Blessed Trinity.