Sunday Readings: Isaiah 7.10-14; Romans 1.1-7; Matthew 1.18-24
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her husband, an upright man unwilling to expose her to the law, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when suddenly the angel of God appeared in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, have no fear about taking Mary as your wife. It is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived this child. She is to have a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins (Matthew 1.18-21).
In this gospel Joseph decides to divorce his pregnant fiancé Mary secretly. But Joseph knows this girl. Her pregnancy befuddles him. What can’t he see? The gospel tells us Joseph sleeps on his decision. He opens his unconscious self to nourishing rest; he entrusts himself to Holy Mystery in going to sleep, and in his sleep Joseph dreams the future of the child.
In our own lives we have to make the journey Joseph makes from the law and its requirements to compassionate judgment and action. This is conscience. Joseph’s story calls us to listen to the Spirit of God that lives within us in the deepest reaches of our psyches and never lets up on us, waking or sleeping, until we bring to life in our relationships the love only each of us can give.
Our baptisms call us to embody the promise of the Spirit in us, to become Emmanuel, and bring God among those we love and try to love. Each of us is called like Joseph to dream a future for the children of promise born among us today in our families and to remember the children suffering war and famine, the millions who need primary education and a future of promise.
Who are children of promise in your life? What can your parish or friends do together to help children of promise in your area?