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"In the silence of a midwinter dusk, there is a sound so faint that for all you can tell it may be only the sound of the silence itself. You hold your breath to listen. You are aware of the beating of your heart. The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment."
- Frederick Buechner
Listen . . .
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JER 23:5-8; PS 72:1-2, 12-13, 18-19
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.
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“Joseph...an upright man...” —Matthew 1:19
St. Joseph would have likely heard today’s first reading and psalm response at some point in his life. Perhaps he had even committed them to memory. Little did he suspect when he initially heard these passages proclaimed that he one day would be raising and rearing the King prophesied in these readings. Yet Joseph surely imitated and emulated the qualities attributed to this King, for the Gospel describes Joseph as a
righteous man (Mt 1:19). In his home and in his personal life, Joseph lived this kingly righteousness and modeled it for his wife, Mary, and foster-Son, Jesus.
Justice flourished in Joseph’s home and fullness of peace filled it (Ps 72:7). Though Jesus was divine and possessed the divine attributes of righteousness and justice, God the Father still knew how critical it was to give His Son Jesus the best of earthly fathers. “For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise” applies to Jesus following His heavenly Father (Jn 5:19). However, there is surely some truth in this
passage also applying to the child Jesus in imitating what he learned of righteous behavior from Joseph. Joseph loved Jesus and everything Joseph did he surely showed to Jesus (Jn 5:20). Fathers and mothers, serve as unfailing models of the Holy Family to your children, so that they might indelibly learn of God’s love.
Prayer: Father, may parents mirror the virtues of the Holy Family and the Holy Trinity to their children by their sacrificial love.
Promise: “She is to have a Son and you are to name Him Jesus because He will save His people from their sins.” —Mt 1:21
Praise: “O sacred Lord of ancient Israel, Who showed Yourself to Moses in the burning bush, Who gave him the holy law on Sinai mountain: come, stretch out Your mighty hand to set us free.”
Presentation Ministries
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Abandonment to Divine Providence
- by Jean-Pierre de Caussade
BOOK II,
CHAPTER IV. CONCERNING THE ASSISTANCE RENDERED BY THE FATHERLY PROVIDENCE OF GOD TO THOSE SOULS WHO HAVE ABANDONED THEMSELVES TO HIM
SECTION III. The Generosity of God
The more God seems to despoil the soul that is in the state of abandonment, the more generous are His gifts.
When, however, the mystery begins to be revealed, God knows what different feelings arise in the soul; joy, tenderness, gratitude, love, confusion and admiration; followed by an increase of zeal for, and attachment to the benefactor. And this trial will be the means of strengthening the soul, and accustoming it to similar surprises.
The application is easy. With God, the more one seems to lose the more one gains. The more He strikes off of what is natural, the more He gives of what is supernatural. He is loved at first for His gifts, but when these are no longer perceptible He is at last loved for Himself. It is by the apparent withdrawal of these sensible gifts that He prepares the way for that great gift which is the most precious and the most
extensive of all, since it embraces all others. Souls which have once for all submitted themselves to the divine action, ought to interpret everything favourably. Yes, everything! even the loss of the most excellent directors, and the want of confidence they cannot help feeling in those who offer themselves for that post.
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