Monday of the Fourth week in Advent, Dec. 18, 2006

Jeremiah 23:5-8. Psalm 72:1.12-13,18-19. Matthew 1:18-24.

In the recent film The Nativity Story, the relationship of Joseph and Mary unfolds and is one of the deeper themes in the movie. It is tender, reciprocal, and moving as they both feel the presence of God in what is happening. The Scriptures do not reveal anything of their relationship on this level of human love, but Joseph is the only other person who is called in an intimate way to sense what is happening in Mary is of God. Both are uniquely involved in the plan of salvation. Joseph had struggled with the mystery of Mary and was ready to leave her and even divorce her privately. The scene from today's Gospel show us that he, like Mary would have an annunciation or message about the mystery of the Incarnation. His happens through a dream while Mary's seems to be in daylight as she dialogues and asks questions of the Angel named Gabriel. We do not know of Joseph's angel being named. And often an angel means God. His role is clarified in a mysterious way by the prophet Isaiah who is cited by Matthew. Joseph is central to the mystery in that he is definitely of the shoot of David mentioned in today's first reading. This means he is of the royal family of David through connection with Judah who is symbolically called the lion of Israel. He legitimizes what is happening to Mary as he claims this child to be his own. He had struggled with the realization that the child to be born was not his; he knew that from his care and concern for Mary in their engagement and his fidelity to it. We know from today's Gospel passage that he was a man called to holiness and justice as the Psalms tells us. Joseph is the key towards the messianic lineage; Mary is not. Once he names the child it is his according to the laws of those days. I realized that Joseph is featured as a guardian and protector of Mary in the Infancy Narratives of both Matthew and Luke. He is more than that through the faithfulness that he lives out even though it is through a dream. He is not old in his thoughts nor is he afraid to embrace the difficult choices made in life. For him Mary became his lifelong partner, albeit, probably limited to a generation. I think we all will do well to choose Joseph as our model for this third week in Advent. It is he who leads us to the Mother and she, of course, will always lead us to her son, their son according to the mysterious plan of salvation history. Amen.