TEXT: The Gospel According to St. Matthew 1:18-24

Every year, when my family was together, we took great joy in getting up early every Christmas morning and sitting down with one another for the reading of the Christmas story, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then to spend some time in prayer, thanking our Lord God for the blessed Gift of Jesus.  I remember the tears that I would have to fight back in order to keep on reading the wonderful events of the Birth of our Savior, Jesus, the Son of Mary.

Today, as a Catholic, this story becomes even more poignant for me as I read it.  For, here we see the beauty of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

This is the story that immediately follows the genealogy of Jesus from Abraham, the father of the faithful to Joseph, the husband of Mary (where the attention of St. Matthew immediately shifts to Mary).  Yet, St. Joseph, the patron saint of the Universal Church is given the place of honor with Mary and Jesus here in this story.

Let us listen again with delight to the Birth of our Lord Jesus.

We have the picture of the perfect family full of love.  May we be renewed in our love for God’s Family, wherever we find it, as we are touched by this story today?

18 Now 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.

What must this have meant to Joseph?  Here, this pure, undefiled, woman who was to be his wife was with child.  Yet, Joseph did not know that this Child was "through the Holy Spirit."  This was a miraculous conception.  Yet, it is to the eternal credit of St. Joseph and his idea of family that he acted in the manner of the story.  He is an example for how we ought to respond when confronted with whatever might become a scandal in our own contexts.

He was a righteous man.

He did not desire to shame her.

So, he decided to divorce her quietly.  It was his only "righteous" recourse under the law of Moses.  One can only imagine how this discovery must have shocked Joseph.

But, the ways of God are made known to Joseph, (to the greater glory of God for the Church that will be born someday), quickly by the Lord in order that Joseph might maintain his "family" intact.  Little did Joseph know perhaps, that our Mother, Mary, (the Mother of God) would someday become the Mother of the Church.  Yes, and Joseph would become the patron saint of the Church too!

Yet, "the angel of the Lord" appeared.

19 Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.
20 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.

Yet, "the angel of the Lord" appeared.

The Angel of the LORD . . .

Many of us do not fully understand what this may mean.  But, it was not Gabriel who appeared to Joseph in the dream.  It was the angel of Yahweh, the Messenger of Yahweh, who appeared to Joseph who had been struggling with these issues in front of him.

In the Book of Genesis --  Interestingly, it was the angel of Yahweh, as a "man"  that appeared to Jacob at the brook of Jabbok (Hebrew -- meaning, "Struggle")

{Note for further study:  after this account in Genesis 32: 23-33 Jacob was eventually renamed "Israel."  Joseph’s Father was a man by the name of Jacob.  And, the Jacob of the Old Testament was the father of a son by the name of Joseph, who is the most beautiful "type" of Jesus in the Old Testament.  An Old Testament type (figure) is an event or person that speaks of Jesus, or others in the New Testament.}

But, Joseph, the husband of Mary struggled with what had happened in Mary’s condition, so, the angel of the Lord came to "wrestle" with Joseph, a true son of Jacob.  He said to him -- "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."

Something supernatural had happened, and, Joseph needed an answer to his questions.

I am so happy that God answers all the questions that need to be answered.  Aren’t you?

And, here, the Lord takes Joseph back into the Old Testament to another "type" (a figure of Christ and the Mother of God) in Isaiah the prophet (Is. 7:14).

This Virgin -- Mary, was to bear a Son . . .   "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.

21 "She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means "God is with us."

How clear God is when God speaks.

How clearly our Lady has spoken in her Magnificat in the Gospel according to St. Luke!  Take time to turn and read it again as well . . .

When we put these two accounts together, we have the beauty of the story ever so poignant.  It brings tears to my eyes as I listen and read it through in the Gospels every time!

How many are the sins of the people?

How many are our sins?

"She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

He is to be named -- JESUS -- Why?

Because the name means -- Yahweh is Salvation!

Because he shall save his people from their sins.

Why also?

Because, Immanuel! -- "God with us."  God is with us!  Think of it?  GOD is WITH us!

If God is with us, who can be against us?

So, St. Joseph, our patron saint believed God and became the greatest of family men . . .  the patron of the Church.

24 When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.

May God help each of us to become like Joseph and become good fathers and brothers, sisters and mothers, as Joseph is with Mary to the Universal Church?



Deus et Sanctissima.