Wednesday, December 18, 2013
3rd Week of Advent
1st Reading: Jer 23:5–8
Gospel: Mt 1:18–25
This is how Jesus Christ was born. Mary his mother had been given to Joseph in marriage but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to discredit her.
While he was pondering over this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a son. You shall call him ‘Jesus’ for he will save his people from their sins.”
All this happened in order to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgin will conceive and bear a son (…). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do and he took his wife to his home. So she gave birth to a son and he had not had marital relations with her. Joseph gave him the name of Jesus.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Joseph preferred to break up with Mary secretly rather than expose her to the risk of death by stoning – a penalty reserved by applicable laws to women getting pregnant before marriage (Deut. 22:23-24). He was the kind of man God chose to become the foster father of the Messiah. But he still remained free to back out from this prearranged relationship.
The way Joseph decided on the case of Mary impresses us, for he still thought of her welfare despite her apparent guilt sustained by her unexplained pregnancy. His judicious exercise of his freedom merited God’s intervention. God sent an angel to tell him not to back out. Joseph was submissive “like a sheep led to the slaughter”.
Freedom is a wonderful gift. Its unbridled exercise, however, can be disastrous. “It is often safe to be in chains than to be free,” wrote Franz Kafka in “The Trial”. Those who exercise their freedom irresponsibly are safer chained. This reminds me of the story of a singing mermaid whose irresistible voice sent the highest ranking sailor of every ship passing by jumping into the sea in search of her. Only one captain was saved, the one who had asked his crew to chain him before reaching the territory of the singing mermaid, and never to release him even if he’d order them to do so. The chains saved him.
Joseph willingly had himself chained by God’s ways. He did not know exactly what God was up to. But he knew he was better off chained by God’s ways than left without divine guidance to exercise unlimited freedom. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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