Daily Reading
First Reading
2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16
But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in?
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings.
Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.
Psalm
Psalm 89:2-3, 4-5, 27 and 29
I declare that your steadfast love is established forever;
your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.
You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to my servant David:
‘I will establish your descendants forever,
and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah
Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,
your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
I will make him the firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
I will establish his line forever,
and his throne as long as the heavens endure.
Second Reading
Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22
For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.”
Therefore his faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.”
Gospel Reading
Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a
And Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife.
Reflection
Friends, on this feast of St. Joseph, our Gospel focuses on some powerful spiritual themes, all of which surround the birth of Jesus.
First, we look at the sadness and the quandary of Joseph. He had become betrothed to Mary, and then he finds that his betrothed is pregnant. So the engagement has to be called off because of an irregular pregnancy. This must have pained him at the deepest emotional level: the feeling of betrayal by one he had loved. It is a wonderful tribute to the goodness of Joseph that he didn’t vent his frustration. Instead, he looked to the feelings of Mary, resolving to divorce her quietly.
Still, this must have been a spiritual crisis for him. What does God want him to do? Then the angel appears to him in a dream and tells him to take Mary as his wife. Joseph realizes that these puzzling events are part of God’s much greater plan. He was willing to cooperate with the divine plan, though he in no way knew its contours or its deepest purposes. Like Mary at the annunciation, he trusted and let himself be led.