These days everything around us is filled, on the one hand, with birth, and on the other with death. On one side the joy of Christmas, on the other fear and suffering, caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the powerful earthquake that destroyed many homes in Petrinja, Sisak, Glina and the surrounding areas. Many families have been left without their homes. We bring you an article dedicated to the Holy Family, who are in exile on the road to Egypt, and thereby to every family in difficulty. They are fleeing before Herod, who wants to take the life of the newborn child Jesus. This mystery of the Family's flight and of God's closeness will be illuminated for us by the painting "Rest on the Flight into Egypt", painted in 1597 by Caravaggio. It is found in the Church of St Agnes, on the beautiful Piazza Navona, and was intended as a wedding gift for Olimpia Aldobrandini, who married Prince Camillo Pamphili.

The Holy Family is shown at a moment of respite, rest and gathering of strength so that they can continue on their way. At this moment God comes to them in the form of an angel, just as he had already visited them before, to make his plans known to them and to encourage them to be open to that plan. The life and mission of the Holy Family reveals to us the hardships and the loftiness of the mission of every human family. God never abandoned this family. He provided them with everything they needed on that journey, even though they faced great hardship, trouble, uncertainty and danger.

In a dream the angel commanded Joseph: "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" (Mt 2,13). Joseph did not hesitate to obey, without asking himself about the difficulties he would face: "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, 14 – 15). Faced with the immediate danger from Herod, who wanted to kill the Child, Joseph was warned in a dream to defend the Child, and in the middle of the night organised the flight to Egypt (Mt 2, 13 – 14). Joseph employs the creative courage of a carpenter from Nazareth, who knows how to turn a problem into an opportunity, always trusting first of all in divine providence (Patris corde).

In Egypt, Joseph waited with trust and patience for the angel's voice telling him it was safe to return to his own land. The Gospel does not tell us how long Mary, Joseph and the Child remained in Egypt. But they certainly had to eat, find a home, find work. It doesn't take much imagination to fill in the missing details. The Holy Family had to face concrete problems like every other family, like so many of our migrant brothers and sisters who even today risk their lives to escape misfortune and hunger. In this sense I believe that St Joseph is truly a special patron of those who must leave their country because of war, hatred, persecution and misery (Patris corde).

As soon as the divine messenger, in a third dream, after informing him that those who had sought to kill the child were dead, commands him to rise, take the child and his mother with him and return to the land of Israel (cf. Mt 2, 19 – -20). Joseph once again obeys without hesitation: "And he rose and took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel" (Mt 2, 21).

But on the way back, "when he heard that Archelaus reigned over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and dwelt in a city called Nazareth" (Mt 2, 22 – 23).

The Son of the Almighty came into the world in great vulnerability. Joseph was to defend him, protect him, watch over him, raise him. God trusts this man, just as Mary does, who finds in Joseph one who not only wants to save her life, but who will always remain at her side and the Child's. In this sense, St Joseph cannot but be the Guardian of the Church, for the Church is the extension of Christ's Body in history, just as Mary's motherhood is reflected in the motherhood of the Church. Joseph, by continuing to protect the Church, continues to protect the Child and his Mother, and we too, by loving the Church, love the Child and his Mother (Patris corde).

In the apocryphal writings about Joseph, Jesus says: "Herod sought me constantly, thinking that my kingdom was of this world. But God warned Joseph, that devout old man, of the danger in a dream. So he rose and took Mary, my mother, while I rested safely in her arms."  Setting out on the journey, he withdrew into Egypt and remained there until the hatred in Herod died. And then Herod died in the worst torments.

Above Fra Angelico's painting Flight into Egypt (1450; Convent of San Marco, Florence), we can read a verse from Psalm 55: Elongavi fugiens et mansi in solitudine; "I have gone far away and settled in the wilderness (in solitude)." In one of his poems, the German mystic Johannes Scheffler (1624-1677) writes: "If Herod is the enemy, Joseph is the reason. / God revealed the danger to him (Joseph) in a dream, in his soul. / If Bethlehem is the world, Egypt is solitude. / Flee, my soul, or you will die of sorrow!"

The work painted by Caravaggio was  originally called "Our Lady Goes to Egypt", because the central figure is Our Lady with the child Jesus: she is the one in the foreground with the Child, both bathed in light, even as they sleep, while the other two figures, Joseph and the angel, watch over them.

The angel divides the scene in half. The angel's figure is beautiful, with white drapery wrapped around its body. The transition  from mortal life to the permanence of eternal life is symbolised precisely by the angel in the foreground, almost immaterial and utterly suffused with light. It "sings and plays" a lullaby, even though its mouth is closed, while at the same time Our Lady and the Child sleep peacefully on the right. The angel in the painting comforts the saint with its music during the journey to Egypt. To a mortal man wounded by sin, the incorruptible angel conveys, through music, the promise of protection,  hope and eternal life. The angel's music brought not only comfort amid the hardships and dangers of the road, but also foreknowledge of the future, that is, the passage from death to lasting blessedness. The angel's wings symbolise exactly this, protection and the newness of life. These are the wings of a swallow, which heralds spring, warmth, the strength of life amid cold, exile and death: "In the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by." (Ps 57, 2)

On the left is Joseph, as servant and protector, as the one who freed the Child and his mother from Herod's persecution.  There are two halves to the painting: the first, blooming with lush vegetation, because it is inhabited by the divine, where the Virgin and the Son rest; the second, where the holy but mortal figure of Joseph is placed, marked by stony ground and the dry leaves of a tree. Behind him we can see the gentle, watchful figure of a donkey (it has large eyes and observes everything from the background). Its gaze, like Joseph's, is turned towards the angel. As if this reinforces the strength of the calling that lies before him, namely to care for the Child and his mother and their mission. Those large eyes follow them the whole way. As if they symbolise the heavenly Father, who watches over their every step, over their life and over all creation. In general,  they represent divine providence, help or consolation. Joseph is sitting on a sack, probably of wheat, from which bread comes. Beside it is a vessel of wine. Bread and wine, symbols of the Eucharist, which is necessary for eternal life.

The sheet music that Joseph is holding is a motet from the early sixteenth century, set to the text Quam pulchra es from the Song of Songs, composed by Noel Bauldewijn.

On the canvas, in the sheet music, we can see the letter Q, the first letter taken from a verse of the Song of Songs, in which the bridegroom says  to the bride: "Quam pulchra tu es - How beautiful you are". This is what every husband must constantly keep repeating to his wife, because it is what is constantly repeated in the motet too - "Quam pulchra tu es - How beautiful you are"- my friend, my dove, my most beautiful one, my bride, my dearest, "without blemish (perfect)" my own – for I am dying of love (for you). This is what Joseph repeats to Mary. This is what Christ constantly repeats to his church: "Quam pulchra tu es - How beautiful you are".

There too we see the letter V: it is the bride who says to the bridegroom: "Veni, dilecte mi - Come, my beloved", arise, make haste, be here beside me, for me, be mine. This is what Joseph does, wholly devoted to his task as husband and father. Regarding the marriage of Joseph and Mary, Augustine says: "For just as Mary was a wife in chastity, so was Joseph in chastity a husband. And as she was a mother in chastity, so was he in chastity a father."

In the Song of Songs, the tenderness and chastity of the Bridegroom was interpreted as Jesus' love for the Church. The bridegroom will not be identified with Joseph to the very end, for the true bridegroom is Jesus. Mary, symbol of the Church, is pressed  close to her "Spouse", Bridegroom of the human race, the young sun that is to rise and light up the darkness of our life. That light glimpsed in the sky is precisely the child Jesus. Mary, worn out by her great care and love for Jesus, has rested her head upon him. He, he is our salvation and our rest. The Song of Songs says of the Bride: "Ego dormio, et cor meum vigilat - I slept, but my heart was awake". And because Joseph watches and Mary's heart watches, Jesus can sleep peacefully in so exhausting, desperate and perilous a situation: "But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother's breast; like a child that is quieted is my soul." (Ps 131, 2) In the verse of the Song of Songs that precedes the one that opens the motet, the bride rests her head and reveals her wonderful, thick purple hair: "Comae capitis tui sicut purpura regis - Her hair upon her head is like royal purple." The Fathers of the Church interpreted this as an allusion to the saving blood shed by Christ, from which the Church drew nourishment and the pledge of redemption.

Joseph shares in a divine love from another sphere, and holds up a score that sings his praise. He represents the whole of humanity, man in his doubts and worries, in the hardships and dangers of life. But also the one who watches over and cares for his family. It is as if all the cares of the world are reflected and can be read on his face. Wholly a husband. Wholly a father. He makes present the loving care of the heavenly Father. In his relationship with Jesus, says Pope Francis, he was "the earthly shadow of the heavenly Father: he watched over him and protected him, never abandoning him to go it alone."