"His father and mother were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning him. Simeon blessed them" both. But enlightened as he was on the difference he should make between her who was really the mother, and him who, merely in public opinion, was the father, he said, speaking only to Mary, his mother: (a) “Behold, this child is set for the ruin and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted (11). And thy own soul," he adds to her, "a sword shall pierce, that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed."

He also prophesied the passion of the Saviour. God wished that this awful futurity should be ever present to the mind of Mary during the entire course of her Son's life. The object was to prepare her for the catastrophe, and also to temper the joy of possessing such a treasure. Had this joy been utterly unalloyed, she would not have acquired sufficient merit; her consent to the sacrifice of her son would only have been, like that of Abraham, the merit of one day, had she not, by anticipating the intelligence, been furnished with an occasion to make that sacrifice every day of her life, nay, perhaps at every moment of the days and years which preceded the

event.

(b) "The Lord saith: In the last days I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." This prediction, which was entirely accomplished after the descent of the Holy Ghost, began from this day to be verified. God included both sexes in the glorious testimony which he designed should be rendered to his son. With the holy old man Simeon he associated (c)" a prophetess called Anna. She was the daughter of Phanuel, "a of the tribe of Aser. She was far advanced in years, and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. And she was a widow until fourscore and four years, who departed not from the temple, by fastings and prayers serving night and day. Coming in at the same hour, she gave praise to the Lord, and spoke (a) St. Luke, ii. 33-35. (c) St. Luke, ii. 36-39.

(b) Acts, ii. 17.

(11) Jesus Christ always had true and false disciples. In the calm of peace it is hardly possible to distinguish between them, but the flail of persecution separates in a sensible manner the grain from the chaff.

of him to all that looked for the redemption of Israel (12). Finally, when Joseph and Mary had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth."

Scarcely had they arrived there (13), when (a) “an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph (14), saying: Arise, take the child and his mother, fly into Egypt, and be there until I shall tell thee: for it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy him. Joseph arose, and took the child and his mother by night (15), and retired into Egypt, and (16) he was there until the death of

(a) St. Matthew, ii. 13–23.

(12) In a city so large and so populous as Jerusalem, at a period when those who were in charge of police regulations were neither as intelligent as at present in every matter which concerned government, nor apparently as exact in the reports which they made, it was possible, nay, very probable, that Herod knew nothing whatever of what had occurred at the temple, or that he did not receive the information until the holy family had already departed for Nazareth, whilst he thought them returned to Bethlehem. What fortifies this conjecture is the certainty that Herod only ascertained from the Magi the birth of the Saviour, although bruited about with such notoriety at Bethlehem and all the surrounding country. This remark helps to make us comprehend how it is that the purification is found placed between the adoration of the Magi and the flight into Egypt, and goes to support the common opinion, which must not be departed from except when we are coerced by evident reasons.

(13) According to this arrangement, we should admit that the angel appeared to Joseph at Nazareth, and there gave him the order to fly into Egypt. Still the recital of Saint Matthew leads us naturally to believe that this apparition took place at Bethlehem. This raises a very considerable difficulty, but not greater than those which are met in the different systems imagined by the interpreters. We have hazarded one, which shall appear in the note on the return of Saint Joseph from Egypt to Nazareth.

(14) The revelation was made to Joseph. Joseph orders and directs the journey. This was so because God had established him head of the family: authority is attached to station, not to science and sanctity, which were far superior in Jesus and in Mary. (15) The conduct pursued by Saint Joseph in this circumstance has ever been regarded the model of a perfect obedience. His was simple, and without reasoning. He did not allege that, in order to secure his son from the fury of Herod, God had an infinity of means less painful to the child, to the mother, and to himself. His obedience was prompt, and without reluctance: having had notice at night, he did not delay his de parture until the light of morning began to break. Generous and full of confidence in Providence, he starts without preparation or provisions.

He was poor in earthly goods, yet, possessing Jesus and Mary, how rich!

(16) We do not exactly know what time Jesus Christ passed in Egypt. Following the most authorized calculations, he cannot possibly have dwelt there less than four

Herod; that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Out of Egypt (17) have I called my son. Herod, perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was exceeding angry; and sending, killed all the men-children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremias the prophet, saying: A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation, and great mourning: Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. 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 life of the child. He arose, took the child, 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 dwelt in a city called Nazareth (18):

years nor more than seven. We must regard as apocryphal the statements of miracles wrought there by him. One alone is founded on a tradition rendered respectable by its antiquity. Yet there is no clear evidence of this tradition resting upon any historical monument; and it may, indeed, have no other foundation than this prophecy of Isaiah, which several interpreters have thought applicable to other times and other events: The Lord shall mount upon a slight cloud, and he shall enter into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be shaken before his face.

(17) These words are read in Osee, chap. ii., v. 1. The prophet spoke of the departure from Egypt, when God broke the fetters of his people, whom he here calls his son, to mark how much dearer to him this was than all other people. The name of son is so inapplicable to this people, and so very applicable to Jesus Christ, that we plainly see that this text can be applied to Jesus Christ alone, in its natural and literal meaning.

The entire ancient Testament is figurative of the new. What was greater in the first than the captivity of the people of God in Egypt, and their miraculous delivery? What more apparently inconsiderable in the life of Jesus Christ than the particular spot whither he retires to screen himself from the pursuit of Herod? Still the first was merely a figure of the second. On the other side, what more interesting in the life of Jesus Christ than his passion, and every thing connected with the same? and in the eating of the Pascal lamb, what less considerable than the prohibition of breaking the bones? Yet this observance, so trifling if considered by itself alone, was prophetic and figurative of one of the principal circumstances of our Saviour's passion.

(18) Should not Joseph, of his own accord, and without admonition from the angel, have returned back to Nazareth, supposing he had left this city to go into Egypt? He had there his house, his furniture, with all the implements of his trade, which he might