Free Yesterday, Today, and Forever by Maria Von Trapp

what the angel said, the story of the visitation and what Elizabeth said, the story of the nativity and what the shepherds said. Then it was time for her royal guests to leave.
    What a horror to think that at the same time the old dying man in Jerusalem with one foot in the grave was already preparing his soldiers to kill this beautiful young boy, who was now clapping His little hands and having the time of His life!
    When Joseph came home from work that evening, Mary told him about the wondrous happenings of the day and showed him the gifts. To the mind of the silent man must have come the words of Psalm 72: “May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him!” (Ps. 72:11). And then, although they didn’t know it, they spent their last quiet evening for a long, long time to come. The little boy had been put to bed. Mary and Joseph went and looked at the gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
    Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar could hardly go to sleep with so much happiness throbbing in their hearts. When their tired eyes had closed in slumber, an angel of the Lord came to them with a message from on high: they were not to return to Herod.
    What a consolation to us when the children of the world all around us are getting smarter all the time! In prayer time we say every Sunday, “For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone” (Ps. 91:11–12).
    One can’t help wondering whether this angel, having given his message, turned right around and went over to “the house” where he also had to deliver a message.
    Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar would get up quietly, order their camp to be broken up quickly, and instead of going north to Jerusalem, they would head straight east, for the Jordan, and in a couple of hours be across the border out of the reach of Herod. The mysterious East would swallow them up.
    Tradition has it that after the Apostle Thomas had baptized them, they in turn tried to preach Christianity in their countries, but met with so much hostility that they soon died for their Lord and King. The early Christians venerated them as martyrs.
    Now the moon was looking directly into our window.
    “When we go to Europe next year,” Hester asked, “shall we stop at Cologne?”
    “Oh, let us hope so,” I said, and we walked down through the deep snow. The house was all dark now. Only the moon and the stars had witnessed the story which had warmed our hearts for the last hours.
Maria von Trapp, shortly before the family’s flight from Austria.

Chapter 9
    The Fugitive
    In the beginning of this book I told “how it happened.” “It” means that we as a family became so much interested in the life of Christ that we started to rebuild it for ourselves, to re-live it day by day. After a few years of doing this, and as we knew Him better and better, we began to feel very close to Him. Finally, He was not only a good friend; more and more He became like one of us — a member of our family. As it had all begun with my telling my crying little girl the story of the flight into Egypt, this story has always remained a favorite among us. We have tried ever so hard to collect all that is known about it, and on top of this, use our family imagination. By now it has grown like this:
    While in Bethlehem the two little groups of three holy persons each, the holy family and the holy kings, finally fell into peaceful slumber, Herod in nearby Jerusalem was very restless. For one thing, he could not sleep because of the awful disease which was eating him up; but on this night something else kept him awake — the thought of his innocent little rival. With growing impatience he awaited the return of the three kings. These stargazers — would they never come?
    Little did he know that just now in the middle of the night the course of those “stargazers” had been changed, and they were already on their way far from him. He,