This season of Advent is a time of preparation to receive the Prince of Peace in our hearts and family. It is a season that is full of joy and many preparations: cards, food, decorations, buying gifts, visits, music, caroling, special movies, sweet breads and chocolates – all kinds of chocolates. This week we begin to hear the story of a different preparation: how God went about preparing the way for the birth of the Christ. God’s history of salvation is a big project. There were a lot of things to do, things to prepare, people to inform, angles sent out, and trumpets blasts.
Today we see Joseph who was a descendant of King David. We tend to skip over Joseph in the story of Jesus’ birth, but he leaves us an important example of faith. As a starting point, the Gospel describes Joseph as a righteous man. That righteousness is the rock that formed the foundation of his life and his mission to guide the Holy Family through all their difficulties. He was betrothed to Mary. In those days marriages were usually arranged by the families when the children were relatively younger. There were usually ceremonies and agreements done before the young couple actually began to live together. Joseph and Mary were in that last stage of the process. Their families had done all the ceremonies and made all the agreements and arrangements. Technically they were married but had not begun the last stage of actually living together.
Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant before they began to live together. Here we see the depth of Joseph’s righteousness. Even though he had the right under the law, Joseph decides not to go through a public divorce nor expose Mary to public humiliation and possibly formal stoning. He decides simply not to receive her into his house as his wife. A deep sense of true justice resides in his heart. He is able to renounce his own need for vengeance and violence. He does not organize his life based on his own emotions and his own perceived needs.
Then while sleeping Joseph has a dream, a vision. An angel calls Joseph to renounce his own fears and explains to him the mission of the child that is to be born – the Savior. The righteousness and justice in the heart of Joseph allows him to trust and to be obedient to the word of God proclaimed by the angel. Once again, Joseph organizes his life not on his own personal feelings and thoughts but based on the God’s plan of salvation. He begins a life of deep trust and obedience to God’s Word.
In this time of Advent, it is easy for us to get lost in the frenzy of activities. We fill ourselves up with activities and things and food and drink. It is also easy for us to lose our spiritual compass. Many times, our false and sometimes twisted sense of justice and righteousness lead us to condemn others, rather than to deepen our own conversion. Joseph capacity to renounce himself lead to the formation of the Holy Family. Joseph prepared himself and Mary for their encounter with the Prince of Peace through his sense of justice, righteousness, trust and obedience. That was his Advent season.
Take time this week to ask yourself about your way of preparing for your encounter with the Prince of Peace. How are you organizing your life and your Advent season and your family’s Advent?
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him.
Image: Alexander Ivanov (1806-1858), Joseph’s Dream (1855) https://kekovacs.blogspot.com/2019/12/genesis.html