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Prince William County Catholic
Mary and Joseph’s Journey to Bethlehem by Colleen Rooney
One can only wonder what was going on in Mary and Joseph’s minds and hearts as they prepared to travel to Bethlehem for the census (Luke 2: 1 – 5). Both were probably familiar with the journey at least to Jerusalem. Joseph was obligated by Jewish law to travel three times a year to Jerusalem for the major Jewish feasts. Mary had, no doubt, traveled with her parents at various times to Jerusalem for the same feasts. Jerusalem was but a few miles from Bethlehem, the city of David. Joseph was of the family line of King David and was returning to the ancestral home to register for the census. Both he and Mary were of the house of King David, the ancestral tribe of Judah. They may have had relatives who still lived in Bethlehem and could possibly have visited them on a family trip in the past. Now they were preparing to go to Bethlehem for the census, but more significantly for the birth of the promised Savior, Jesus, the Divine Infant. Mary’s pregnancy was draw-
ing to a close. Joseph was aware that she would soon be delivered. What must they both have been thinking? I will leave to the scholars and those with spiritual depth to speculate on their interior dispositions. On the practical side, I would like us to consider some preparations. Mary would have been making swaddling garments for the baby. First, she would card the wool, then separate the fibers into yarn. When she had enough yarn, she would then set her loom to weave the yarn into cloth. The cloth provided much needed wraps to swaddle her baby Son. Did she dye the swaddling clothes some color or leave them natural? We do not know. We do know she was an accomplished weaver as one might expect from a woman who was naturally gifted in every way. Unlike you and me, she did not have the darkness of mind or confusion of impulses that often distract us from learning something well and then executing it precisely. Mary
