This book was one of the more thought-provoking books on the sorrows of our lady by Charles Journet who was eventually elevated to the position of Cardinal in the Roman Catholic church. The second of the 7 sorrows of our lady is covered in the following partial quote from the book and gives some sample of the quality of writing and thought in this book:
“Second Sorrow. – The prophecy was the first sword. Its accomplishment began at once. ‘Behold and Angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: Arise, and take the Child and His Mother and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell thee. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the Child to destroy Him. Who arose took the Child and His mother by night and retired into Egypt ‘(Matt. ii, 13-14). It was the second sorrow. The virgin who had been given a foreshadowing of what was to be by the prophecies that had been uttered, now began to learn the same things by seeing the prophecies accomplished. She had been told that her Son was to be a sign which should be contradicted, now she learns the first fruits of this in a hurried flight by night toward a land of exile of which she knew not the customs nor the language nor so much as where it might be. On Christmas night, when she had found not room in the Inn, the Child at least, hidden within her, did not suffer physically. All the troubles of the outer world could not reach Him. But now, how could she spare Him the hardships of the road, the chances of the weather, the trials of hunger and thirst and weariness. In the place they had left, the threat of death still remained, since Herod sought the Child to destroy Him. Unimaginable was her dereliction in those days and nights of desert journeying. Surely God would work some miracle for the Child which was His! Incredible that the Child, a tiny frail thing that suffered and said no word, should be His! Incredible that if It were So, God should thus seem to abandon It, in the midst of enemies, to the pitifully inadequate protection of a poor man and his poor wife.
So much mystery tested not only their courage, but their faith: not that their faith wavered under the trial: rather was it strengthened and purified. This road they were on had seen many a marvel wrought by God long ago; to-day they trod the road in want and weakness. From the land of Egypt God had once recalled His beloved Son, the people of Israel; to the land of Egypt these two were journeying back bearing a little Child, more precious in Himself than all the children of adoption, since He was the Only-Begotten of the Father, the Word made Flesh. But a day was to com when the Word of Osee (xi, I), ‘I called my son out of Egypt’, would receive a new meaning. Their poverty would continue, but their exile ended, Joseph was able to take the Child and His mother and return into the land of Isreal.
In the long journeyings between the place of her exile and her own land, one joy at least the virgin never lost. She had her Child with her. She continued to wrap Him in swaddling clothes as in the stable. She watched over Him unceasingly. . .”
This should give the average Catholic family pause when they contemplate how little help they think they get from God as well as how inadequate God has made them to raise a family to him, based on size and deposition (financial, health etc.). Based on this story of the Savior and the Blessed Virgin one can come to one of 2 conclusions: 1) God did not really care that much about His Son or 2) (the more likely scenario) God gives every mother and father every grace they need to raise their child or children in the graces they receive from the sacrament of matrimony, even if it does not seem so while we are raising them! Mothers and fathers should pray for help from God all the time, confident in the fact that He will give them the graces they will need to raise good children for Him and for our world.
Traditional Thomistic Catholic 