May the following words penned more than 50 years ago by Rev. M. Raymond, O.C.S.O. encourage us during these trying times and our pending exile in a world that has, for the most part, turned its back on the Lord who created them, died for them, yet still offers all of us eternal life:
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"There was pain in Egypt - yet, I say it was heaven.
Mary saw raw, rampant paganism all about her, yet she nursed God at her breast; she had to listen to false gods being called upon, yet she heard the Word of God utter His first human word. And while the sight of pyramids standing out against a setting sun, and the shimmer on the waters of the Nile told her not only that she was in exile, but that her whole people had once been here, yet when she gazed into the starry light in His eyes and knew that it had been kindled from light in her own and that He was the Maker of the stars, Egypt and exile was heaven. It was here she saw Him take His first step, listened to Him laugh in baby glee, felt His tiny hand caress her cheek and tangle in her hair; it was here that she bathed, clothed, fed her Baby who was God; it was here that she tucked God in bed and sang God to sleep; it was here that her whole night and day, her whole being, her whole existence was God who was also her Child.
If to know and love God is heaven, then to labor and live and love Jesus in Egypt is a heavenly exile."
(From God, A Woman and The Way)
