All Displaced Families are Holy

 

 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 

Then Joseph  got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”                                            Matthew 2: 13-15 NRSVue

There is a tenuous ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and already Palestinians are streaming northward toward Gaza City, an area that has been forceably evacuated by the Israeli military several times during the past two years as it engages with Hamas fighters. These dislocations have been a never-ending humanitarian crisis as residents don't know where to turn for safety and food. 

As I watched the caravans of people hauling suitcases, carrying children, pushing the elderly in wheelchairs, even using donkey carts, I thought about Mary, Joseph, and Jesus fleeing from Bethlehem to Egypt to avoid the murderous wrath of Herod, as well as their eventual return to Nazareth. This would have been a journey of hundreds of kilometres in each direction and while the route is not recorded in the gospels the Orthodox and Coptic churches have a traditional route that includes passage through the Gaza region along the Mediterranean. The Holy Family was on the move seeking safety and refuge as Palestinians are in this moment. 

We know that there is a Church of the Holy Family in Gaza city, one of the few Christian churches in Gaza, and that it has been a refuge damaged by bombing. The late Pope Francis phoned the priest almost daily as his life ebbed away to offer support. 

Are all  displaced families holy, loved by God? As we pray for the current efforts toward peace in the region we can keep in mind that they are vulnerable, desperate for stability, living in hope against the odds. God be with them, Allah be with them, Christ be with them.