This Gospel today closes the story of how Jesus and his family fled from Israel for their safety and returned when their persecutor Herod died. It also is the setting for seeing something central about Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel - that he is the liberator of his people as Moses was for Israel in his leading their escape from Israel and taking them to the Promised Land.

About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.

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