Reading I
2 Sm 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16
The Lord spoke to Nathan and said:
“Go, tell my servant David,
‘When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors,
I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins,
and I will make his kingdom firm.
It is he who shall build a house for my name.
And I will make his royal throne firm forever.
I will be a father to him,
and he shall be a son to me.
Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me;
your throne shall stand firm forever.’”
Reading II
Rom 4:13, 16-18, 22
Brothers and sisters:
It was not through the law
that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants
that he would inherit the world,
but through the righteousness that comes from faith.
For this reason, it depends on faith,
so that it may be a gift,
and the promise may be guaranteed to all his descendants,
not to those who only adhere to the law
but to those who follow the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of all of us, as it is written,
I have made you father of many nations.
He is our father in the sight of God,
in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead
and calls into being what does not exist.
He believed, hoping against hope,
that he would become the father of many nations,
according to what was said, Thus shall your descendants be.
That is why it was credited to him as righteousness.
Gospel
Mt 1:16, 18-21, 24a or Lk 2:41-51a
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.
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.
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.”
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.
or
Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover,
and when he was twelve years old,
they went up according to festival custom.
After they had completed its days, as they were returning,
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,
but his parents did not know it.
Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers,
listening to them and asking them questions,
and all who heard him were astounded
at his understanding and his answers.
When his parents saw him,
they were astonished,
and his mother said to him,
“Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”
And he said to them,
“Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
But they did not understand what he said to them.
He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them.
Meditation: Romans 4:13,16-18,22
St. Joseph
In the Book of Genesis, there is a touching scene where God takes Abraham outside on a starry night. You can almost picture the Father with his arm around the perplexed man, telling him: “Look up at the sky, and count the stars, if you can. Just so … shall your descendants be.” It must have been quite a stretch for Abraham to believe this. Years had passed since God’s first promise of descendants, but he and Sarah remained childless. And yet, Abraham “put his faith in the Lord, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness” (Genesis 15:5,6).
Many centuries later, God made a night visit to one of Abraham’s descendants, who was also perplexed. What he promised Joseph was even harder to believe: Mary’s child had been conceived “through the holy Spirit” and would “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20,21). Did Joseph think of Abraham as he pondered all this? Since he was a devout Jew who knew the Scriptures and would have looked to Abraham as a model, it seems quite possible. Certainly, Joseph responded as a true son of Abraham: He put his faith in God and then showed it over and over by his ready obedience.
Joseph knew that his relationship with God rested on the bedrock of grace as a gift to be received by faith. And so, like Abraham, “he believed, hoping against hope … and was fully convinced that what [God] had promised he was also able to do” (Romans 4:18,21). By accepting the mystery of God’s plan for his life, Joseph advanced God’s saving plan for us all. In union with Mary’s fiat, Joseph’s “yes” of faith changed the world!
God has a plan for your life, too. It may seem humble and insignificant compared to Joseph’s, but don’t be fooled: Your response of faith really matters. You don’t know where your “yes” might lead and how God might use it. Ask Joseph to help you receive the grace your Father wants to give you. Then, like Joseph, go out in faith to be a “doer of the word.”
“Father, I believe your promises. Thank you for the gift of your Son and for the intercession of so many ancestors in faith. Holy Spirit, help my unbelief! I want to accept and act on all the grace you have for me.”
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