18 December | Monday of the Third Week of Advent
Gospel Mt 1:18-25
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
"Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins."
All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet:
Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means "God is with us."
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.
He had no relations with her until she bore a son,
and he named him Jesus.
Reflections:
A virgin claiming to be pregnant without the intervention of any man is no less than a myth and a fairy tale. Do you think people are so naive to believe such a story? And if it was widely known, it would be a scandal. But that was the reality of the pregnancy of Mary, virginally conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. It was not easy for her family to accept and understand this reality, much more, Joseph she was engaged to. He had the right to doubt and suspect her of being unfaithful to him. So, Joseph’s plan to dismiss her quietly was justified. Then God stepped in, sent an angel to explain the mystery to Joseph in a dream, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Joseph, a man of extraordinary faith, believing what the angel said, took Mary home, and became the earthly father of the Saviour of the world, the Son of God. Do we have Joseph’s kind of faith?
Activity:
Let us meditate on the extraordinary faith of Mary and St Joseph and pray for the grace to have faith in God as we trust and follow his ways and his plans for us like Mary and St Joseph did.
Amen🙏
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