What Kind of Egypt Is God Sending You To?
Have you ever noticed how God sometimes uses Egypt as a place of refuge for His people?
In the Old Testament, God sent Joseph to save his people from famine. In the New Testament, another Joseph, the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary was instructed by an angel to go to Egypt to escape from Herod.
“...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.’” - Matthew 2:13-15 (NABRE)
If you have a devotion to the Seven Sorrows of Mary, you must also be familiar with the the holy family’s flight into Egypt. It is the event you meditate upon as you pray one Hail Mary and reflect upon the second sorrow of Mary.
The version of this that is included in St. Bridget’s Twelve-year Devotion for the Souls in Purgatory is as follows:
Second Sorrow of Mary—
Mary and Joseph took Jesus to safety in Egypt.
Despite being a place of exile and of the Israelite’s eventual slavery, Egypt was still seen as a place that Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus could go to for “safety”.
Indeed, Egypt had been a place of safety, a place to escape from both famine and even death. And this is still true even if we consider all the hardships and inconveniences that came along with it.
Let us recall how in the Old Testatment, Joseph was sold as a slave by his brothers. This sent him to Egypt where was even put in prison for being accused of a crime he did not commit.
In the New Testament, let us imagine how difficult it must have been for the holy family to travel to Egypt and then live as foreigners for many years.
Here are just some of the reflections of St. Alphonsus Liguori in his book The Glories of Mary:
“Any one may imagine what Mary must have suffered on this journey. To Egypt the distance was great. Most authors agree that it was three hundred miles; so that it was a journey of upwards of thirty days. The road was, according to Saint Bonaventure's description of it, ‘rough, unknown, and little frequented.’ It was in the winter season; so that they had to travel in snow, rain, and wind, through rough and dirty roads.”
“Here let us consider the great poverty they must have suffered during the seven years which, according to Saint Antoninus, Saint Thomas, and others, they spent there. They were foreigners unknown, without revenues, money, or relations, barely able to support themselves by their humble efforts.”
Although Egypt had been a place of safety, it was never seen as a place of ease or comfort.
In fact, it was a challenging place, a place where one would meet the kind of difficulties that can only be overcome with faith in God’s providence and care.
It is the same with our lives. We sometimes experience problems, loneliness and challenging times. We wonder why God has ever allowed us to undergo such distress.
What we may not understand right away is that God could be sending us into our own Egypt for safety!
What kind of Egypt is God sending you to today?
It could be a place of discomfort where you need to surrender some of your personal preferences.
It could be a place of loneliness where you have to be away from your loved ones.
It could be a place of dryness where you lose all the sweetness in prayer you used to have.
It could be a place that requires adjustment for a totally unfamiliar set of conditions or events.
It could be a place for battle in terms of your health or finances.
No matter which kind of Egypt God may be calling you to today, take comfort that despite all of its difficulties, God has still regarded it as a place for your safety.
In that place, God could be taking you away from temptation. He could be taking you away from your pride or worldly attachments. He could be showing you how to rely on Him more.
That place can also be where you can build your strength so you can be of greater service to others later on. It is that place where you can gain wisdom and a heart of deeper compassion for those who are lost and suffering.
We can question God whether there could have been another way to bring us to safety, but we do not possess His wisdom or His love. A love that wants the best for us in the end, even if it means we must undego temporary discomfort or suffering.
"How different are the thoughts of God from the thoughts of men! Christ was no sooner born, than sent into banishment. The Almighty could easily have rid the world of Herod, or have appeased his anger, or have rendered His divine Son invisible; but He adopted the ordinary means of safety, and His Son must fly. Reflect how derogatory this was to the dignity of the Redeemer, and how full of inconveniences. Thus God always treats those whom He loves best."
- Roger Baxter, Meditations For Every Day In The Year
Let us never lose faith no matter how dark our circumstances must be.
Let us instead keep the faith and look up to Him who alone knows what is best for us. He watches over us and would never allow any pain to touch us if not for our greater and eternal good.
Here is what Joseph said to his brothers who sent him as a slave to Egypt:
“I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. But now do not be distressed, and do not be angry with yourselves for having sold me here. It was really for the sake of saving lives that God sent me here ahead of you. The famine has been in the land for two years now, and for five more years cultivation will yield no harvest. God, therefore, sent me on ahead of you to ensure for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance. So it was not really you but God who had me come here; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his household, and ruler over the whole land of Egypt.” - Genesis 45:4-8 (NABRE)
“You carried me through the fiercest fire
You carried me through my darkest hour
You carried me and helped me find my way
Lord, be with me and love me come what may.”
Great commentary and much needed, as usual, Jocelyn.
I enjoyed your creative analogies here, especially having been to Egypt twice. On my last trip in October 2023, we visited Abu Simbel far south of Aswan in a wheezing bus that we weren't sure would make it. Once we got there, is was blazingly hot with the sun reflecting off of all the stone--probably the closest I've ever come to fainting from heat (but managed well enough). My son, too, guzzled lots of cold water, but that turned out to be a blessing. On the ride back to Aswan, the bus seemed to be struggling even more and the driver wanted to keep going all the way (a four hour total journey), but my son, having drank all that water, thankfully insisted on stopping at the one and only rest area halfway. Once we stopped, the driver discovered that the fuel filter had ruptured--we could have easily been stuck on a lonely highway in the Sahara with even a burning bus. So, we waited at the rest area for three hours in 100+ degree heat with only a single, rickety fan to comfort, but we all maintained good spirits. Such is Egypt.
You also reminded me of the devotion that the Coptic Church in Egypt (Egyptian Orthodox) revere the entire Holy Family and still preserve, as a shrine (which I wasn't able to visit, unfortunately), the cave where the Holy Family is supposed to have lived--the guide on my first trip in 2008 told us of a mystical experience he'd had in that place, even as a Muslim. In any case, it's very touching to see the devotion to the Holy Family that's present in uniquely in Egypt.