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On December 28, 2025, Catholic Christians celebrated the Holy Family: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Priests wear white (or white-gold), a color worn at Easter and Christmas, symbolizing the triumph of life over death and light over darkness.

The Reality of the Road to Egypt

One might think that in the Holy Family there was only peace, serenity, and joy. But it was not so. On the Feast of the Holy Family, the Gospel depicts the flight into Egypt. To save the Child from Herod’s wrath, Joseph and Mary venture onto a road full of dangers. At that time, there were no streets, highways, cars, or airplanes. Roads meant risk: facing thieves, criminals, wild animals, and the whims of the weather. It is very interesting to see how God chooses to be born and to live in the very heart of our weakness and malice. Could He not have sent an army of angels to carry Jesus to Egypt?

God Looks Beyond Appearances and Masks

It seems that God has rather strange ways. He likes to work in secret, beyond appearances—unlike us humans, who judge most of the time based precisely on these appearances: because it’s easier, because it’s more convenient, because we lack patience.

I have always been the “black sheep” of the family. Either I wandered and couldn’t find my place anywhere, or I was struck by all kinds of illnesses and tested them from every point of view. Most of the time, I felt misunderstood and kept my distance. But since God loves to work beyond appearances, He made it possible for us to see beyond the masks.

Sometimes we wear the mask of pride: we want to give the impression that we are fine and do not need the person next to us. Other times we wear the mask of sabotage: I am sad because my family does not fulfill all my desires. There are also moments when we adopt the mask of mistrust, and that is when ruptures in relationships occur. Before God, however, all masks fall.

The Road to Egypt Is the Road to Each Other’s Hearts

Thus, over time and through God’s Grace, I discovered that my family has been for me both Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Why do I say this? They were Jesus because they saved my life, so that in time I would learn to appreciate it. They were Mary because they offered me warmth. And they were Joseph because they protected my fragility.

Of course, no one is perfect. They made mistakes too. Disappointments were mutual, but God, through His mysterious ways, gave us the courage to look into one another’s souls and learn to forgive. It seems that sometimes, the „road to Egypt” is actually the difficulty of reaching the heart of the other.

Every year in December, Catholics celebrate the Holy Family because Jesus made His family our family as well. Without their guidance, we would not have been able to look into our souls with sincerity, to know our limits, and to relate to a higher reality, without which life is so dry and a prisoner of appearances.

Therefore, people of good faith, let us drop the masks and look deep into our souls where, as Saint Paul the Apostle says, Christ Himself dwells, who can lead us to a new life full of love and forgiveness.

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”

Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

Colossians 3:12-16