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.
Pillar of Faith
by Jenni Bernardo-Fonseca
In the Filipino culture, a father is called “haligi ng tahanan” and that is for a good reason. Oftentimes, people of different races and cultures expect men to be strong, cerebral, objective, they are not supposed to show their emotions at any time. Hollywood style movies often portray men this way too, masculine, rebellious, violent, sexist, abusive. Even lead actors are portrayed as violent while fighting for equality, order, justice, and peace. In our gospel passage today, the 3rd day of our advent Novena, we see different portrayals of men in the life of a woman, Mary. They are Joseph, Jesus, and Angel Gabriel. In their hands, the future of a woman is deeply tied. In the hands of these men, the future of Mary, a 1st century peasant, will radically change.
In this Matthean passage, Joseph was portrayed differently compared to the men of his time. Considering the mores of the time, Joseph was portrayed as “righteous” (1:19) because he was “unwilling to expose her to public disgrace.” Under the Jewish law, a woman who bears a child outside of “marriage” is supposed to be stoned to death. Then in a dream, an angel spoke to Joseph, and told him of the virgin conception, and he was to name the child, Jesus. This I believe, is where the righteousness of Joseph lies, that he was a man of God. He recognized God in his dream because I too believe that Joseph knew his God deeply well. That is why whether he is awake or sleeping or dreaming, Joseph was deeply conscious of who God is.
Worthy of our attention is the righteousness that is exemplified by Joseph. His righteousness comes from his being, not only in his actions, not only in his “doing.” Many of us are accustomed to equating righteousness to doing good deeds, and that is not wrong. What I am proposing is for us to recognize that righteousness comes from within, from the recognition of and consciousness of who we really are, children of God. That we all are children of God, we are created in God’s image and likeness. This is where our true responsibility as Christians must emanate from. In a sense this means my “doing” comes from my “being” not the other way around.
In the gospels of Matthew and Luke, Joseph is portrayed as a righteous man, a loving husband and a protective father. He remained faithful to his covenant with God from the time that he awakened from his dream until his death. He labored with passion and commitment for the good of his family, he was as steadfast as he was undaunted. He offered his life, his love and his death in total oblation to the will of God. At a time when men who may be fathers and brothers and world leaders would choose violence, terror and might to rule the world, the Church offers St. Joseph to us all as an exemplar of what it means to be a child of God in our present time. Let us look at St. Joseph as a model, hero, and saint who will lead us to righteousness, protective, faithful, and steadfast in his faith. Isang tunay na haligi ng tahanan.
Prayer:
God, our Father, we thank you for giving us a father in St. Joseph. We thank you for giving us a model of living as Your children here on earth. We ask for your forgiveness, our God, for we failed to recognize ourselves and one another as created in your image and likeness. Forgive us for not recognizing who we really are and neglecting our authentic self. Amen.
Gift for Jesus:
As a gift to our God this Christmas season, we take the time to recognize ourselves as children of God here on earth. Every day, especially upon waking up or before retiring to bed, we put our hands on our chest and just recognize our breath and our breathing. Be attuned to the ebb and tide of our breathing and in every breath say to ourselves, “I Am a child of God.” We can start doing this from 2 to 5 minutes, 2 to 3 times a week and then progress according to your needs.
Jenni Bernardo-Fonseca is a catechist by profession and a mother of 2 teens, Julia and Ady. A certified batang Gagalangin and an adopted child of San Jose.
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