Gospel • Mt 1:18-23 [or 1:1-16, 18-23]
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This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means “God is with us.”
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We rejoice at the birth of Mary since she prepares for the birth of the Savior of the world, Jesus the Emmanuel, God-is-with-us. Mary participates in the mystery of redemption when God is incarnated through her womb as the virgin mother. The genealogy of Jesus Christ presents humanity replete with sin and error. Women of doubtful reputation are interspersed within the ancestral line: Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute to bear the children of Judah (cf Gn 38:12-26); the Canaanite Rahab was a prostitute who helped Joshua to enter Jericho (cf Jos 6:17-25); Ruth, David’s grandmother was a non-Israelite “Moabite”; King David sired Solomon by Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba (cf 2 Sm 12:24). The long line of sinful lineage, infidelity, and broken covenants between God and the people of Israel will finally find its reconciliation in Jesus born of the Virgin Mary. Blessed James Alberione SSP writes, “When the fullness of time at last arrives, Mary comes into the world as the dawn of the New Covenant.” This liturgical feast originated in Jerusalem near the site venerated as Mary’s birthplace (the Church of St. Anne) and became a popular cult after the Council of Ephesus (431AD), when Mary was declared “Mother of God” (Theotokos); further, Mary’s birth was connected with the dogma of the “Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary,” that is, she was born without original sin.
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2020,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
