December 22^nd 2019. Fourth Sunday of Advent

GOSPEL: Matthew 1:18-24

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio

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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

GOSPEL: Matthew 1, 18-24

This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son
and they will call him ‘Emmanuel,’
a name which means ‘God-is-with-us’.

When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . When God enters history, he does so in ways that are difficult for us to comprehend. If the Lord confined himself to doing things that we understood or approved of, then he would end up acting in very mediocre ways! In the Gospel, Joseph finds himself with an apparently impossible decision to make. He believes that he must divorce Mary, but he does not want her to suffer the terrible consequences. An angel appears to him in a dream and addresses him as a “son of David”. Joseph is of noble lineage, even if he is a mere carpenter! It is Joseph who will have the honour of naming Jesus, and it is through this act that Jesus will be legally of the line of David. It is Joseph who confers on Jesus the Davidic dynasty by welcoming him as his son! There is a message here for all of us. If we, like Joseph, welcome the action of God in our lives, then we too, like Joseph, will recognize that we too are of noble lineage. We too can permit God to work wonders in our lives, as Joseph did. Like Mary, Joseph welcomes the power and action of God in a virginal way. He gives Jesus his identity. Jesus’ body was generated in the womb of Mary, but was nourished by the bread that Joseph earned. For our present generation, which has  a crisis of fatherhood, it is good to look at the figure of Joseph who welcomes Jesus, recognizes him, gives him an identity and nurtures him. Like Joseph, we too must be open to God. Like him we must be ready to say, “I am here Lord. Do with me whatever you will. I will put my name and my signature on the things that you ask me to do. I will expend myself for your sake”. This is the wonderful calling that the Lord has for all of us.

Joseph is presented with a hard choice. Tough choices are not always between good and evil. Sometimes they are about choosing between two things that are good, or, as in this case, two things that seem bad.

The incarnation of the Son of God is recounted in this Sunday's Gospel from the perspective of an act of discernment on the part of Joseph. Our existence is defined by decisions. Life challenges us with various choices and some are as dramatic as the one in question. What should Joseph do with his promised pregnant bride? If it were an ordinary pregnancy, the decision would be obvious: he was forced - by Jewish rules - to divorce Mary. But he knows Mary and cannot convince himself that she has been unfaithful. Serious decisions of this sort are not always between good and evil. If so, they would all be easy. But the real challenge of discernment is always between two things that both seem good or, as in this case, both bad. It does not seem right to expose Maria to the risk of being stoned, neither can her pregnancy be ignored. Joseph seems to be at a dead end. Real problems are usually of this type.

In our world, relativism reigns. There is no good or bad in itself, just what is good or bad for me in my circumstances. As a result people struggle to make basic decisions.

Today there are many young people who struggle to make clear decisions. The guidelines for good decision-making are missing because the fabric of our society is relativistic – there is no sense of right or wrong apart from what is right for me. It becomes very difficult in these conditions to make a decision. We often fear things that are not risky at all, while defending views that are barely plausible. And there are many who at forty years of age still have to decide what they will do when they grow up!

Many men try to keep everyone happy, especially themselves, and fail to make the decisive decisions that are necessary

Joseph, for his part, could not denounce Mary without fearing that he was making a mistake. Was there a middle ground? This is how we often end up doing things, hoping to make everyone happy and ending up doing nothing. Joseph decides to secretly divorce his bride, so that he does not have to suffer consequences. Our generation of males is a bit like this: they try to keep all options open by trying to keep everyone happy (especially themselves) and ultimately lack virility and fertility. They end up in a mediocre state that leads nowhere.

Joseph’s problem is resolved when he believes in the content of his dream. He believes that it is God who is operating in this strange situation. He believes in the fulfilment of ancient promises. If each one of us is to do good, be faithful, follow the Lord, then we must have faith that the Lord is operating in our lives

How does Joseph get out of his dilemma? By means of a dream. It should not be forgotten that Adam lost a rib in his sleep and discovered he had a bride. It is curious: to allow God to act we sometimes need to be weak, to be in a state of sleep. The word "dream" is also used for idyllic things, the fruit of our imagination. When we believe in a dream, we are often believing in beauty. Joseph resolves his dilemma by believing in something that is more beautiful, better, and nobler. What he does is believe in the work of God – he believes that it is the Holy Spirit who is operating in this situation. What is happening is immense and will change the course of history. Joseph moves on from a mediocre solution to believing in the fulfilment of ancient promises. How can a marriage survive if the spouses do not obey the dream that brought them together in the first place? How can one remain faithful to a vocation without obedience to the noblest intuition of the heart? How can we build the Church if we don't allow the Lord to act according to his plans? How can we hope to do anything useful in this world if we don't believe in the goodness of God? Joseph believed in a wonderful thing. He was not wrong.