December 22, 2013
4th Sunday of Advent
1st Reading: Is 7:10–14
2nd Reading: Rom 1:1–7
Gospel: Mt 1:18–24
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, and he will be called Emmanuel which means: God-with-us.
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.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Management principles offer simple steps to arrive at good decisions. The “IDEAS” theory offers the following steps, namely, Identification of the problem, Development of alternative solutions, Evaluation of each alternative, Application of the best solution first at micro level for testing purposes before final application, and Systematic evaluation of the whole process. St. Joseph’s story enriches our IDEAS theory with two vital components, namely, the consideration of the welfare of others and the deference to the Will of God.
The problem of St. Joseph began when he found Mary pregnant before their marriage. He decided to back out. This decision however included provisions Mary’s welfare in this wise: he will break up with her silently so that she will not be stoned to death (see Deut. 22:23-24).
The freedom to decide exercised in this fashion necessitates God’s intervention. In the case of Joseph, God sent an angel to instruct him not to be afraid in taking Mary as his wife. He obeyed.
It was one of the most successful decisions in history, for it brought salvation to the world. If we want to make good decisions we must allow God’s will to influence our “IDEAS”.
But how do we know the will of God? Only God knows what he really wants. That is why we must ask for enlightenment from above if we want to align our decisions with God’s will.
Such enlightenment is not hard to obtain if one decides with due consideration for the welfare of those who stand to be affected by the results of the decision.—Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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