Reflection for Saturday of the Third Week of Advent

18 December 2021
"Joseph's Dream", Andrey Mironov, 2017. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

 

Saturday of the Third Week of Advent

18 December 

 

Reading: Jeremiah 23: 5-8

Responsorial Psalm: PS 72: 1-2; 12-13; 18-19

“Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever”

Gospel: Matthew 1: 18-25 

 

Matthew 1:21 – “She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus” 

 

Today’s Gospel centres on the intriguing figure of Joseph. Joseph is one of the most beloved of the saints, featured in countless works of art and prominent in the devotional lives of many.

We know almost nothing about him, yet some very powerful spiritual themes emerge in the accounts of Joseph. He had become betrothed to Mary and this union had been blessed by God. And then he finds that his betrothed is pregnant.

This must have been an emotional maelstrom for him. And, at a deeper level, it is a spiritual crisis. What does God want him to do? Then the angel appears to him in a dream and tells him, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.” He realises at that moment that these puzzling events are part of a much greater plan of God’s. What appears to be a disaster from his perspective is meaningful from God’s perspective.

Joseph was willing to cooperate with the divine plan, though he in no way knew its contours or deepest purpose. Like Mary at the Annunciation, he trusted and let himself be led.

Pray for the continued protection of our Guardian Angels today.      

 

With thanks to Holy Name of Mary Parish, Hunters Hill, who have supplied these daily Advent and Christmas 2021 reflections from their publication Daily Inspirations of Faith: A Season of Prayer – Advent to Epiphany 2021-22. 

 

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