Fr. Matthew Mary, MFVA | December 18, 2025
At the beginning of every liturgical year, the Church observes the season of Advent, a period of four weeks during which we recall the longing of the people of Israel over many centuries for the first coming of the Messiah so that we Christians might stir up a longing in our hearts for His Second Coming. The readings at Mass for the first part of Advent center on various prophecies concerning the Messiah and on the culmination of the Old Testament prophets leading up to St. John the Baptist. However, in this latter part of Advent, the focus of the readings shifts to the events leading up to the birth of Christ, which the Church will celebrate with great joy and solemnity on Christmas day. The Gospel reading for Mass on December 18th is taken from Matthew’s account of the events preceding the nativity of Jesus.
In this reading, we are told that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is betrothed to a man named Joseph. The act of betrothal is very different from our concept of engagement today. In modern times, a couple becomes engaged to be married but does not actually contract marriage with one another until the wedding takes place. However, in ancient Israel, when a woman was betrothed to a man, the couple establish a contract with one another and are effectively married, even though the wedding ceremony has not yet occurred. A betrothed couple will still live separately until the wedding takes place and the marriage is finalized. Nowadays, if an engaged couple wishes to end an engagement, they do not need to take any legal steps or file for divorce. They simply agree to break off the engagement, and it is ended. A betrothal, on the other hand, required a formal divorce since a contract has already been established between the two parties.
According to the Gospel of Matthew, Joseph discovers after his betrothal to Mary that she is with child through the Holy Spirit. It is not explained how Joseph learns of this incredible event. It is highly likely that Mary herself confided in Joseph. The fact that Joseph does not doubt Mary’s word or suspect her of infidelity is a testament to his impeccable character. Upon learning that his betrothed wife is pregnant, he realizes that the Lord God is doing something truly remarkable in her that is beyond his own comprehension. Perhaps he feels that by taking Mary as his wife, he would only get in the way of what God is trying to accomplish in and through the Blessed Mother. In his profound humility, he wishes to back out of the marriage, yet he is a righteous man who truly cares for Mary and does not want to expose her to shame. He knows that divorcing her publicly would do just that. As a righteous man, he decides interiorly to divorce her quietly. Yet, as righteous as Joseph is, his decision is ultimately contrary to the will of God.
As Joseph prepares to act on his decision, an angel of the Lord appears to him in a dream and encourages Joseph to take Mary as his wife, explaining that the child in her womb has been conceived through the Holy Spirit. This child is to be named Jesus, “because he will save his people from their sins.” When Joseph awakes from this dream, he immediately acts on the word of the angel and takes Mary into his home as his wife. Although Joseph had initially decided on a course of action that was contrary to the will of God, once he had been informed of that will, he readily changed his mind and did what the Lord asked of him.
Sometimes it can happen that good people still think and act contrary to the will of God, through no fault of their own. Joseph is an extraordinarily good, holy, and righteous person, yet even his thoughts and actions were not always perfectly aligned with the thoughts and the will of God. When Joseph decided to divorce Mary quietly, he did not arrogantly cling to his initial decision, thinking that he knows best. As a righteous man, he could have listened to the angel speaking in a dream and refuse to obey, thinking that he knows better. He could have convinced himself that the angel was merely a demonic deception and that he must cling to his own will. Yet Joseph does not act with arrogance. Even as his mind is fixed upon divorcing Mary quietly, he remains docile to the will of God. Once the will of God is manifested to him, Joseph does not stubbornly cling to his own will but accepts the will of God as his own.
This is an important lesson for all of us. No matter how hard we might try to be faithful to the Lord, to follow Him, to obey His laws, and to do His will, there is always a possibility that our will is not perfectly aligned with the will of God. St. Joseph is one of the most righteous men to have ever lived and yet even the will of this man was not perfectly aligned with the will of God, albeit through no fault of his own. While it is important to strive to obey the laws and precepts of God and to do His will, we should look to St. Joseph as a model of humility and docility, recognizing that it is impossible to be perfectly aligned with the will of God without the help of God’s grace. It was the grace of God that manifested the will of God to St. Joseph. What is most important about St. Joseph was not how meticulously he might have followed every detail of the law of God, but that he remained docile to the will of God. He demonstrated a ready willingness to modify his own thoughts and actions once the will of God had been manifested to him. We can learn from the example of St. Joseph and imitate him by not clinging stubbornly to our own will and by imitating his docility in our own life’s journey with the Lord and with the Church.