[Meditationes seu Contemplationes devotissimae]

First, because Isaiah had long before predicted this, saying: "Behold, the Lord will ascend upon a swift cloud and will enter into Egypt." He calls the flesh of the Lord himself a "swift cloud," which is called a swift cloud because it was never weighed down by any burden of sin. Second, because the patriarchs and prophets had lived as pilgrims in Egypt, therefore he, who is the God of the prophets and the supreme patriarch, also wished to live as a pilgrim there. Whence that which the evangelist says was fulfilled: "Out of Egypt I have called my son." Third, he fled into Egypt as a figure of how his preachers, namely the apostles, were about to leave Judea on account of the unbelief and stubbornness of the Jews, and were to pass into Egypt of the Gentiles. For Egypt is interpreted as "darkness." Therefore, the Gentiles are rightly understood through Egypt, as it had been oppressed by the darkness of infidelity and vices. Whence that which the prophet Isaiah said was fulfilled: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, and to those dwelling in the region of the shadow of death, a light has arisen for them." Therefore, faithful soul, consider, and by considering, have compassion for the labors and dangers which Christ himself endured in this very difficult pilgrimage.

Truly, if you consider the harshness of the way and the length of the journey, the tenderness of the age of the child, the youth of the mother, the old age of Joseph, the putative father, the poverty for necessary expenses, and the unknown region to

which he was betaking himself, where he hoped to find no solace of relatives or friends, you will find, indeed, the most ample material for compassion. Remember, therefore, the word of the apostle, who, speaking of compassion for the sake of Christ's reward, says in the eighth chapter to the Romans: "But joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him, so that we may also be glorified together."

Concerning the session of Christ at twelve years old in the midst of the doctors in the temple

O stupendous disposition of divine wisdom! Behold, he who is the fountain of wisdom, the Word of God in the highest, who teaches the angels in heaven and illuminates all human minds on earth, sits in the temple at twelve years old, hearing and questioning them. What wisdom or knowledge could he hear which he has not known from eternity? In whom are all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God? Why does he question about the Law, he who is himself the legislator, and whom God the Father gave to all peoples as a witness, a leader, and a teacher? What did he not see beforehand from eternity in the fountain of divinity? Recognize, faithful soul, that the works of Christ are so full of sacraments and teeming with mysteries that they are not undeservedly stupendous to human senses. Wherefore, do not marvel if you do not comprehend them with your own intellect. Yet I wish you to know this: that for the sake of human salvation, divine wisdom came to men through the mystery of the incarnation. He did nothing that does not have a relation to our salvation or the cause of doctrine.