Walking With the Holy Family
In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen. May the blessing of the Father who calls us and His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ who saves us, and the Holy Spirit who sanctifies and transforms us be with us all, that we may hear His word and bear fruit—thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. Amen.
What if I told you the first Christian church ever visited by Christ wasn’t in Bethlehem, or even Jerusalem… but in Egypt? Long before His public ministry began, long before the first miracle at Cana or the calling of the twelve, the Son of God set His infant feet upon the land of Pharaoh. He came not in majesty but in exile. Not in power, but as a fugitive in flight.
And yet, this flight was no accident. It was fulfillment. It was healing. It was the sanctification of suffering and the redemption of the rejected. It was God entering the heart of every outcast land to declare: “I am with you.”
The Prophecy That Opened the Desert
The prophet Isaiah foresaw this moment hundreds of years earlier and cried out, “Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud and will come into Egypt. The idols of Egypt will totter at His presence.” (Isaiah 19:1)
Egypt—a land marked by centuries of pagan worship, tyranny, and exile—was about to be rewritten. The cloud of glory descended not on Zion, but on a dusty village road, carrying a carpenter, a virgin, and a Child. And idols began to fall.
As the Church Fathers taught, this moment was the beginning of the Gospel to the Gentiles.
St. Cyril of Alexandria said, “Christ, though but a child in appearance, was already victorious over demons.” He entered not just Egypt, but the spiritual Egypt of every heart still enslaved to fear, sin, and despair.
The Journey That Still Walks With Us
Let us walk now with the Holy Family. Their footsteps echo through history—but their purpose was never just to visit. It was to sanctify, to heal, and to claim every land for salvation. From the border of Rafah, to Tell Basta, to the cave of Abu Serga in Old Cairo, to the mountain of Qusqam—they were not fleeing only. They were consecrating every valley of pain with the presence of God.
Each place was touched. Water sprung from rock. Trees bowed. Stones bore footprints. Even the Nile bore witness to the Word made flesh. The angels guarded them. The animals watched in peace. The journey was brutal, but it was hallowed. Egypt became Bethlehem. The desert became Nazareth. Exile became home.
Are you running from something today? So did the Lord. But He sanctified the path of the refugee. He did not despise your fear—He entered into it.
The Idol Falls in Every Generation
It is said that when the Holy Family entered Heliopolis, the idols collapsed. The Lord of Glory was carried by His mother, and creation knew its Creator had arrived. The demons were disarmed. The pagan temples cracked. The land cried out. And Egypt—long enslaved to false gods—became the first Gentile altar of Christ.
St. Severus of Antioch wrote, “Even before the Cross, the mere presence of Christ brought down the strongholds of the enemy.” And Egypt, by divine plan, was chosen for this unveiling. A land of Pharaohs became a cradle for the King of Kings.
Today: Where Is Your Egypt?
We all carry an Egypt in us—a place we fear, a past we hide, or a trial we flee. But the message of this feast is simple and radiant: the Lord is not afraid of your Egypt. He walks there willingly. And where He walks, He transforms.
Let us open the doors of our hearts and homes to Him. Let us let Him enter the brokenness, the exile, the wilderness. Let the idols fall. Let the stones cry out. Let the barren places bloom.
May the Lord bless us, transform our hearts and minds, that our homes may stand on the Rock, our hands serve in the harvest, and our hearts long for Heaven. Amen.