Mateo 2:13-15,19-23

Today’s painting is really stunning in my view and one of my favourite works. We see Joseph resting, exhausted on the Egyptian sands at the feet of the sphinx. He is flanked by a an open fire and the little donkey which carried them there. The saddle has been removed, to give the animal a rest too and we see him grazing on sparse desert grass. Mary and Jesus are resting on the sphinx, with a radiant light emanating from the child Jesus. He is staring at the stars in heaven. They were fleeing from the horror of the slaughter of the innocents which we discussed yesterday.

Especially Mary’s heart-breaking, sorrowful expression is powerful. She grieves for all the women and children who could not flee, for the innocents slaughtered by the cruel king. All those lost baby lives, those grieving families. Surely Mary’s heart must have grieved for them too, she who bears the weight of all the sorrows of the world.

Luc Olivier Merson, the French academic 19th century painter of this picture, beautifully captures quite a crucial moment in our faith: the Holy Family have just left behind the synagogues and the Temple, the Promised Land, to live in exile, trusting that some day God will deliver them and bring them back home. They are now surrounded by a pagan idol in the form of a sphinx. Mary carries with her the Light of the World but His time is not yet come to do His work. This is the moment where Mary and Joseph keep the light of faith alive in the land of Egypt!