2. The flight into Egypt.
Sometimes our suffering is the result of mistakes we make and sometimes it comes to us from an external source. Either way we must try to endure with a trusting obedience as Mary did when she and Joseph fled to Egypt with Jesus. Fulton Sheen describes why we can turn to Our Mother even when we sin and how she will always look on us with compassion: “He, on His side, will not destroy their freedom, and they, on their side, will not choose Him. But as Mary in this second dolor was not angry with the wicked but unhappy for their sakes, so now in Heaven her compassion and love of sinners almost seem to rise with the measure of their sin.” This is how Mary ultimately captured my heart, and why I turn to her so readily in times of trouble. I used to see Mary’s sinlessness as an obstacle. After all, how could she understand me, a sinner? Yet when I think of her as my mother and as one who sorrows over my sinfulness, I learn to trust her. She sorrows over my sins because she knows that it makes me sorrowful, too. She knows that true happiness can only be found within the arms of Her loving and merciful Son. She does not stand in judgement, but instead reaches out her hand to deliver us to her Son who she knows is full of mercy.
