Pope St. Sylvester

St. Sylvester was born in Rome and was ordained to the priesthood by Pope St. Marcellinus. This took place during a brief time of peace for the Church, immediately preceding the persecutions of Diocletian. Sylvester was one of the clergy who survived the cruelties during the reign of terror which ensued, and eventually saw the triumph of Constantine in the year 312. Two years later he succeeded St. Melchiades as Bishop of Rome.

The Council of Nicaea was assembled during Pope St. Sylvester's pontificate, in the year 325. By that time he was advanced in years, and so was not able to attend personally. He sent legates to the Council, and because they were the Pope's personal representatives, their names appear first among the signatories of the Decrees, preceding the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch. St. Sylvester was Pope for twenty-four years and eleven months, and he died in the year 335.

Be merciful to the people of thy flock, O Lord, eternal Shepherd of our souls: and keep us in thy continual protection at the intercession of Saint Sylvester, whom thou didst raise up to be shepherd of the whole Church; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Helping to heal the rift

"When all things were in quiet silence and night was in the midst of her swift course, thine Almighty Word, O Lord, leaped down from heaven out of thy royal throne…" and that Word took flesh untainted by sin from the Virgin chosen from the beginning of time. It was done for the healing of that tragic rift between God and Man.

God created all things to be in perfect unity. He made the universe as a reflection of His own divine order. He created Man in His own image, to be in perfect communion with Him. But through the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, disorder entered into the world, and perfect communion was broken. And ever since that time, there has been a tendency in the natural order of things for there to be disintegration, the breakdown of things, a crumbling. Sadly, what should be unnatural has become all too normal in the world around us, and within us, and even within the Church.

Christ founded the Church to be One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic – and so it is. But our sin has caused division, and that is a clear contradiction to the Divine Will of our Lord. While there is an invisible spiritual communion deeper than we know, especially through the bonds of baptism, nonetheless there is to be a visible communion, too, because that is the Will of Christ.  The constant invitation from God is that we work and pray to build up both the spiritual and visible unity of Christ’s Body.

It is this purpose – the building up of unity – which is outlined at the very beginning of the Apostolic Constitution, Anglicanorum coetibus. In fact, this stated purpose is sometimes glossed over in the search for the particulars of the Personal Ordinariates. People tend to look at the details of how they are established, and of who can belong, of the liturgical use, and of who can be ordained – indeed, any number of other details.

But all that neglects the reason for Pope Benedict XVI’s great generosity, and that is to help bring about the prayer of Christ “that they all may be one.” It is not accidental that the first three paragraphs of the Apostolic Constitution speak of the Church as “a people gathered into the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” and that the Church was instituted by Christ as “a sacrament…of communion with God and of unity among all people,” and that this Church is governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him. Then, recognizing that there are “many elements of sanctification and of truth [which] are found outside her visible confines,” he says that these “are forces impelling towards Catholic unity.”

What had been broken, the Personal Ordinariates invite us to repair. The communion that has been impaired, we are asked to help restore. The fellowship which has been strained, we are bidden to strengthen.

God’s Incarnate Love came into this world by Our Lady’s “yes,” and it would gladden her heart for her children to be one again. She, who stood beside the Cross and saw her Son in agony, would be comforted by us taking away this pain of separation. There are few things that touch a mother’s heart more, than to see her whole family together at one table. This is why we have been given the Apostolic Constitution: so that we can put division behind us, and join together with one voice and one heart in “that most holy cause, the preaching of the Gospel” to the whole world.

“Lord Jesus, make us one, as you and the Father are one.” Amen.

The Feast of the Holy Family

The Feast of the Holy Family gives honour to Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and it is an occasion when we remember the importance of every family. In fact, it is so essential in the Church’s understanding of herself that the family is known as the “domestic Church.” Parents have the great privilege and responsibility of raising up yet another generation of Catholics who will walk in the great “stream of faith” which has come from others, and they are given the grace to do this through the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.

While parents have this as their primary obligation, every one of us – whether parents or grandparents, aunts, uncles, godparents, clergy, teachers, friends – has the responsibility of assisting in the solid Catholic upbringing of children. Christ Himself has given us this responsibility as members of His Body.

Children need to be developed in virtue; they need to be formed in character. And as our children learn the virtues, so our families – and the Church – will be strengthened and will be that leaven which will help our society come to know God as He has revealed Himself to us.

How do children learn these things?

First, through the examples they see around them. What children witness in the lives of parents and grandparents, and in the other adults whom they admire, they will tend to imitate.

Second, by repeated practice. We need to remind our children constantly to do the right thing, to the point that they know they can do the right thing because they have become accustomed to doing it.

And finally, by word; that is, by what they hear coming from our own lips, and having those words match the actions they see in our lives.

We do our children no favour when we allow them to control us; rather, we have an obligation to assert a godly control over them, guiding them and correcting them and forming them in the image of Christ.

Let this Feast of the Holy Family be a reminder to us of our responsibility to exhibit a solid, holy Catholic life. We must impart good habits of mind, will, and heart to our children, and to do it through hard work and sacrifice each day, setting an example for them of what a Catholic life can be, when it is well lived.

With God's assistance and with our own dedicated and sacrificial work, we can help our children to grow into great men and women, and that will lay the foundation for every family to become more like the Holy Family.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the prayers of the Blessed Mother and of St. Joseph, help us to do this.

O Lord Jesus Christ, who by thy wondrous holiness didst adorn a human home, and by thy subjection to Mary and Joseph didst consecrate the order of earthly families: grant that we, being enlightened by the example of their life with thee in thy Holy Family, and assisted by their prayers, may at last be joined with them in thine eternal fellowship; who livest and reignest with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The Holy Innocents

In the midst of celebrating the incarnation of holy innocence, our joy is tempered by the remembrance of the deaths of the Holy Innocents. A wicked ruler ordering death much as he might order the destruction of an unwanted animal; terrified parents seeing their children's blood on the same streets where their families had walked for generations; brutalized children having their lives stolen scarcely after they had begun; a whole town maimed beyond recognition, all because the sin of Adam and Eve necessitated the birth of a Saviour.

We relate the slaughter of the Holy Innocents to the millions of children murdered through abortion -- and quite rightly so. But the horror of abortion is something that goes even beyond what happened on the streets of Bethlehem. The deaths of those little boys in Bethlehem afforded some safety to the Christ Child, because the sly Herod thought he had accomplished his purpose, and so the Holy Family was able to continue unmolested on its journey to the safety of Egypt. Those little boys, even in their suffering, had parents who did all they could to protect them from the violence descending upon them. Those little boys were named, and they were loved, and they were incorporated into God's family through the religious rites attended to by their mothers and fathers. The little boys of Bethlehem are remembered even today, and their deaths are able to be seen as being directly related to the mystery of the Holy Incarnation.

But the little victims of abortion... theirs is a holocaust that defies description. Not a single action of a single wicked ruler are their deaths; rather, their deaths are "a matter of choice" -- choices made by the very ones who should be protecting their innocent lives. These are not deaths being endured for any noble cause. These are deaths born of ignorance, of selfishness, of greed, of any number of the spoiled fruits of sin.

As we remember the deaths of the Holy Innocents, pray also for those who are being murdered in their holy innocence. And pray, too, that the twisted hearts which allow and encourage such unspeakable things might be changed.

O Almighty God, who out of the mouths of babes and nurslings hast ordained strength, and madest infants to glorify thee by their deaths: mortify and kill all vices in us; and so strengthen us by thy grace, that by the innocency of our lives, and constancy of our faith, even unto death, we may glorify thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The need for silence...

The Scriptures refer often to silence. We read of the beauty of silence, and of how it pleases the Lord to receive from His faithful children the sacrifice of words unspoken and thoughts not expressed.

We see the greatest example of the meaning of silence in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is the omnipotent Word of God, the very Word which brought the universe into being, and yet He came into the world as a child unable to speak. Indeed, there are no recorded words of His until He was twelve, and then silence descended again until His public ministry commenced.

There were times during His passion that our Lord’s silence spoke with a particular eloquence. Scripture tells us that when He was before Pontius Pilate, He made no answer to the accusations leveled against Him, nor did He speak a word while He was being mocked in Herod's court. But in those times of silence there was a strength communicated which ultimately would put to silence the cacophony calling for His death, until at the end there was but one voice remaining which proclaimed, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

One of the many things our Saviour teaches us is that we should challenge the habit of constant chatter and non-stop access to every word being said in every corner of the world. We should take time out from incessant talking with people and listening to the media. We need to provide for times and places of silence. We must "go apart" as Christ did on occasion, periodically leaving the crowded world that insists upon being seen and looked at, to be heard and listened to.

Of course, there are those with freedom to have solitude, but for some it is less easy. Different people are in different circumstances. Yet everyone should do whatever is possible to have at least some freedom from the oppressive noise that the world inflicts on us so that we can have times of quiet silence before God.

St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

The cave of St. John on Patmos.

Our spiritual journey continues during this Octave of Christmas, as we travel from the Feast of young St. Stephen to the Feast of the aged St. John. And what a journey he made, being taken from tending his fishing nets by the Galilean sea to a cave of exile on the island of Patmos. In both places he was called by the Lord Jesus; first, to listen to the Divine Word so he could follow, and second, to record the Divine Word so those of us who have come later can also follow.

On one of our parish pilgrimages we went to Greece and Turkey, where we visited the cave in which St. John received the apocalyptic vision. As many holy places as I have visited, rarely have I been as affected as I was while standing in that place. There it was that the Risen Lord spoke to John with a power so overwhelming that a fissure was left overhead, dividing the rock into three pieces as a reminder that the Trinity had revealed the truth on that spot. Every place one looked, there was a reminder of John: the hollow in the rock where he rested his head when he grew so tired he could no longer stand upright; the sloping shelf on which the Revelation was recorded. It was all I could do to keep my shoes on my feet, so clearly was this "holy ground." It seemed as though the breath of history was held in that place, and that the apostle would at any moment appear once again to take up his pen to continue recording the living and awe-full word of the Lord. But of course, that could not be. It was there, in that cave, that the final word was spoken. What St. John heard there was the last word of truth. There is no more to be revealed; all we can pray for now is for our increased understanding of what Christ has spoken once for all. Here are the last words the Lord spoke to the last living apostle, written down with trembling hand:

"I Jesus have sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star." The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." And let him who hears say, "Come." And let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price. I warn every one who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if any one adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if any one takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the saints. Amen.

The icon pictured here was obtained during a parish pilgrimage, which included a visit to the island of  Patmos, where St. John had been exiled and where the Revelation was given to him by the Risen Christ. This image hangs in the Chapel of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, near the altar.

Shed upon thy Church, we beseech thee, O Lord, the brightness of thy light; that we, being illumined by the teaching of thine apostle and evangelist St. John, may so walk in the light of thy truth, that we may at length attain to the fullness of life everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Pure Love rested here...

Chapel of the Manger, Basilica of the Holy Nativity, Bethlehem.

One of my earliest Christmas memories was learning to sing "Away in a manger" for a pageant.  I must have been very young indeed, because I can remember it hadn't been too long before that I had stopped sleeping in a crib, and since the carol said that our Lord had "no crib for his bed" I had the thought that we could probably give the one I had been using to the baby Jesus.  It was a child's charitable thought which never worked out, but I've always loved the lullaby that inspired it.

Here's the traditional first verse, with three other verses I wrote several years ago.

Away in a manger, no crib for his bed,

the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.

The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay,

the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

Dear Mary, his Mother, sang sweet lullabies,

as Jesus, awaking, gazed into her eyes.

The most holy Virgin, with loving caress

embraced the world’s Savior with Love’s tenderness.

Good Joseph stood guarding the Mother and Child,

his soul filled with awe and his heart undefiled.

The birth of young Jesus made angels to sing,

but Joseph in silence kept watch o’er his King.

What once was a stable may our hearts become;

may God’s holy fam’ly in us find a home.

With Mary and Joseph and angels above

we worship the Infant, the gift of God’s Love.

Text: V.1, Traditional,

vv. 2-4, Fr. Christopher G. Phillips, 1995

Music; CRADLE SONG, William James Kirkpatrick, 1838-1921)

St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr

Saint Stephen was one of the first ordained deacons of the Church. He is also the first Christian martyr. The Greek word from which we derive the English word martyr literally means witness. In that sense, every Christian is called to bear witness to Jesus Christ, in both their words and their actions. Not all are asked to shed their blood.

Those who shed their blood for the faith are the greatest of witnesses. They have been especially honored since the very beginning of Christianity. Stephen was so conformed to Jesus in his holy life that his martyrdom was both a natural and supernatural sign of his love for the Lord. It also inspired the early believers as they faced the first round of brutal persecution.

His name means “crown” and he was the first to be martyred. His final words showed his understanding that Christ had come not just for the Jews, but for the whole world.

As he was being stoned, the young rabbi holding the cloaks of those who were stoning Stephen was named Saul, and what he saw in this young martyr eventually led to his own conversion.

I find it spiritually invigorating to move so rapidly from celebrating the birth of Our Lord, into the next day's commemoration of the first one to die for faith in that same Lord. St. Stephen, the great deacon, the compelling preacher, the martyr whose blood was a seed of faith in St. Paul, his was a life which showed very early that the Catholic faith was not designed for cowards!

When I celebrate Mass each year on St. Stephen's Day, it is a special day for me as it is the anniversary of my father's death, and it is a privilege to be able to pray for the repose of the soul of George William Phillips.  It makes the day bittersweet - it seems to me to be right for such a good man to have died on the feast of such a good saint.

Pray, good St. Stephen... pray for us all.

Grant, O Lord, that in all our sufferings here upon earth, for the testimony of thy truth, we may steadfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed: and, being filled with the Holy Spirit, may learn to love and bless our persecutors, by the example of thy first Martyr Saint Stephen; who prayed for his murderers to thee, O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour all those that suffer for thee, our Mediator and Advocate; who livest and reignest with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

To you...

I can remember as a child the excitement of looking under the Christmas tree, with all the gifts wrapped and waiting, and then seeing one that had my name on it. In fact, even as adults we still get a little bit of that feeling, when seeing a beautifully wrapped package, sneaking a look at the tag, and seeing that something’s been chosen and wrapped, just for you.

So then, imagine a gift, beautifully wrapped, with a tag that simply reads, "To you." No other name on it, just "to you." A present labeled like that would mean that anybody who saw it and picked it up, could say, "This one's for me." Anyone could unwrap the gift and claim it as his own. Well, that's what the tag says on this bundle wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in Bethlehem's manger. It says, "To you, from God." Or as the Gospel puts it, "For to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour…."

There, lying in the manger, is God's pure love for each one of us. There sheltered amidst animals and straw is His love which has come to us. There, in the form of the Divine Infant, is God’s desire for each one of us to be His own.

Before we even knew enough to ask for a Saviour, God sent One. Before we even knew enough to ask for a Lord, He came and showed Himself to be our Lord, a Child conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. Here, wrapped in swaddling cloths, is God's gift to us. And it’s a gift that will outlast all the others.

This little Child in the manger gives us exactly what we need most. When we’re oppressed with guilt, when we’re burdened by our past, when we’re at a loss about who we are and why we exist, when we’re afraid, in the hour of our death, He gives us exactly what we need.

Salvation is born!

Lest the fact of the Incarnation and the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ become something relegated to cards expressing the greetings of the season with stars and angels hovering over nothing, our Holy Mother the Church marks each day of of the year, including Christmas, with the offering of the Mass, making the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ a present reality.

The Child was born for that purpose. The wood of the cradle makes way for the wood of the cross. The infant in the arms of Mary is the Saviour reposed in her arms. The beginning of the Passion of our Lord was at the moment of His conception in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. Shepherds came to adore the Lamb of God, and the Magi brought gifts in preparation for the death and resurrection of the King of the universe.

Here is mysterium tremendum: salvation is born in the stable, salvation is born on the cross, salvation is born on our altars.

O precious Lord, once born for us

in stable small and poor;

be born again within our hearts,

and there let us adore.

As once our Savior thou didst come,

both Man and God divine,

so now thou givest Flesh and Blood

'neath forms of Bread and Wine.

Sweet Fruit of Virgin Mary's womb,

once hid from earthly sight,

may we thy children fruitful be,

and show the world thy Light.

Now stay with us, Lord Jesus Christ,

in solemn Mystery,

that when our work on earth be done

thy glory we may see.

Text: Fr. Christopher G. Phillips

Music: St. Botolph, by Gordon Slater

Benedictus Dominus Deus

The Benedictus is the canticle of thanksgiving spoken by Zechariah on the occasion of the birth of his son, John the Baptist, and recorded by St. Luke in the first chapter of his Gospel (vv. 68-79).  It is included in the portion of the Gospel read on the morning of December 24th.

It is composed of two parts, the first section being a thanksgiving for the fulfillment of the Jewish hope for the coming of the Messiah. The time of their long-awaited deliverance was here, and it was the fulfilment of God's promise to Abraham.  It meant that God's people would be able to "serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness."

The second part of the canticle is addressed by Zechariah to his own son, John, who was to have an important a part in the redemption of mankind. He was to be a prophet.  He would preach repentance, and would "go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways."

The Benedictus Dominus Deus is found in our Divine Worship as one of the canticles in Morning Prayer.

BLESSED be the Lord God of Israel; * for he hath visited and redeemed his people;
And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us, * in the house of his servant David;
As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets, * which have been since the world began;
That we should be saved from our enemies, * and from the hand of all that hate us.
To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers, * and to remember his holy covenant;
To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham, * that he would give us;
That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies * might serve him without fear;
In holiness and righteousness before him, * all the days of our life.

And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: * for thou shalt go. before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people * for the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God; * whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us;
To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, * and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

A pure reflection...

The prophet Malachi spoke of “a refiner and a purifier of silver.” It was the Messiah to whom he was referring. “He shall sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver.” [Malachi 3:3]

The refiner of silver worked like this: he would sit before the furnace and hold a crucible above the fire, containing the impure mixture of silver and lead. Then, as the crucible was heated, the lead would crumble away, until the pure silver would begin to shine. And when the refiner could see his own reflection shining clearly in the silver, then he would know that the metal was pure, and needed no further refining.

When our Lord Jesus was born and when He looked at His mother’s face, the first recollection of His earthly life would have been His own face, shining, reflected in His Mother’s eyes, as the refiner of silver could see himself in the purity of the metal before him.

That’s what Jesus saw in Mary. He saw His own image, the image of God, shining and reflecting in her soul. He saw the reflection of His own love and holiness in her.

That’s what He looks for in us. Our sins are to be purged away. Our selfishness and our worldliness are to be refined away, as the lead is from silver, in the furnace of our contrition, until Christ sees His own face reflected in our hearts. He has promised that He will purify us, if we come to Him.

What Jesus saw in Mary, He looks for mystically in us, and He has made it possible through His saving work of redemption. As Mary bore the Incarnate Word within her, so we are afforded the privilege of bearing Christ within us. He was planted within us at baptism, and each time we receive Holy Communion, we bear Him within us in a marvelous way as we become living tabernacles for His Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.

"He shall be called John."

Now the time came for Elizabeth to be delivered, and she gave birth to a son. And her neighbors and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they would have named him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said, "Not so; he shall be called John." And they said to her, "None of your kindred is called by this name." And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, "His name is John." And they all marveled. And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea; and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, "What then will this child be?" For the hand of the Lord was with him.

- St. Luke 1:57-66

In the Old Testament it is written in the Book of Malachi that when the Day of the Lord approached, the great prophet Elijah would return to announce the coming of the Messiah, who would be the Saviour and Ruler of all creation.

Elijah did indeed return, or it would be proper to say that one came who stood in Elijah’s place, fulfilling the role of the great prophet; that is, St. John the Baptist. His birth shows the love God has for His people, as everything was prepared meticulously for the coming of the Incarnate Word.

The Gospel appointed for December 23rd relates a very human situation. The relatives of Zechariah and Elizabeth have gathered on the eighth day after their son’s birth. It was the occasion on which the child would be named, but there was disagreement over what to name him.

In our own families, sometimes there are those who think a newborn child should be named after his paternal grandfather, or a child should be named such-and-such because “I’ve always loved that name.” In our ordinary family life we have opinions about such things. But the child in the Gospel today has already been named, and the name was made clear by the very angel who first brought the news. Both Zechariah and Elizabeth are firm about it: “He shall be called John.” It is an important name, and a name appropriate to the circumstances. It means "the Lord has been gracious."

With the birth of St. John the Baptist the way is paved for the outpouring of the grace and favour of God in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, the Lord has been gracious, because the world which had been maimed by sin and death is now able to be a place of hope and new life for all mankind.

"He shall be called John."

Now the time came for Elizabeth to be delivered, and she gave birth to a son. And her neighbors and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they would have named him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said, "Not so; he shall be called John." And they said to her, "None of your kindred is called by this name." And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, "His name is John." And they all marveled. And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea; and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, "What then will this child be?" For the hand of the Lord was with him.

- Luke 1:57-66

In the Old Testament it is written in the Book of Malachi that when the Day of the Lord approached, the great prophet Elijah would return to announce the coming of the Messiah, who would be the Saviour and Ruler of all creation.

Elijah did indeed return, or it would be proper to say that one came who stood in Elijah’s place, fulfilling the role of the great prophet; that is, St. John the Baptist. His birth shows the love God has for His people, as everything was prepared meticulously for the coming of the Incarnate Word.

The Gospel appointed for December 23rd relates a very human situation. The relatives of Zechariah and Elizabeth have gathered on the eighth day after their son’s birth. It was the occasion on which the child would be named, but there was disagreement over what to name him.

In our own families, sometimes there are those who think a newborn child should be named after his paternal grandfather, or a child should be named such-and-such because “I’ve always loved that name.” In our ordinary family life we have opinions about such things. But the child in the Gospel today has already been named, and the name was made clear by the very angel who first brought the news. Both Zechariah and Elizabeth are firm about it: “He shall be called John.” It is an important name, and a name appropriate to the circumstances. It means "the Lord has been gracious."

With the birth of St. John the Baptist the way is paved for the outpouring of the grace and favour of God in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, the Lord has been gracious, because the world which had been maimed by sin and death is now able to be a place of hope and new life for all mankind.

Advent IV: St. Joseph's Annunciation

 

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel" (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.

-Matthew 1:18-25

In his Gospel, St. Matthew tells us that an angel from God appeared to St. Joseph. It was in the context of a dream, but that didn’t make it any less real. It’s related to another event recorded in scripture, when the Blessed Virgin Mary also was visited by the angel, and she was told that the Holy Spirit would overshadow her, and that she would conceive and give birth to a son. The Virgin Mary’s encounter with the angel we know as the Annunciation, and St. Joseph’s experience was no less an annunciation, too. So let’s look more closely at St. Joseph and the place he was given by God.

St. Matthew tells us that Joseph was a “just man.” What is it to be “just?” It means being upright and righteous. Then we’re told that he resolved to send Mary away quietly. Let’s look carefully at that. If Joseph really thought Mary was guilty of wrongdoing, then as an upright, righteous man, he would be obliged by law to denounce her publicly. That’s what was required of a just, righteous, obedient Jewish man. A just man would keep the law meticulously, and the law would require that Mary face the consequences of being a young unmarried woman who was expecting a child. But on the other hand, if Joseph thought that Mary was innocent, then he would certainly be unjust in sending her away. A righteous Jewish man, upholding the law, could never knowingly inflict an injustice on someone. So this gets us to the important question – and the answer to this question tells us something extremely important about Joseph. Here’s the question: “If Joseph was indeed a just man, why was he going to send her away?” It’s in the answer to that question that we’re going to gain insight about Joseph’s spirit, his uprightness, his humility, and his sense of justice. The real crux of the matter isn’t whether Joseph believes Mary to be innocent, or whether he thinks she’s guilty. Rather, it’s this: it’s whether Joseph already knows, at the time of the visit of the angel, that Mary has miraculously conceived this Child. But why is that important?

If we look at the words the angel spoke to Joseph, we get a clearer picture. Our translation says, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit…” Really, a more accurate translation of the original text would be this: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for you know that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit…” In the original language of the scripture it’s apparent that Joseph already knew of the supernatural origin of Jesus. The purpose of the visit of the angel wasn’t to inform Joseph that Mary had conceived this child; rather, the purpose was to tell Joseph what his place was to be in all of this.

Now we can more clearly understand Joseph’s uprightness and sense of justice. It wasn’t that he wanted to put Mary away in secret; rather, it’s that Joseph didn’t want to presume a role that wasn’t his. In his humility he didn’t want to pass himself off as the father of the child whom he knows to be the Son of God. It would have seemed to him that he was usurping a role that the Lord hadn’t entrusted to him. That’s why he planned to send Mary away quietly and respectfully and with delicacy. In Joseph’s thoughts, God had plans for Mary, and so he thought he probably should just disappear, he should get out of the picture, so as not to meddle in a plan that was much bigger than the marriage they had planned.

But God did have a place for St. Joseph in this great plan of salvation for the world, and that’s why he had the visit, that annunciation, from the angel. It was Joseph’s vocation to accept, and take into his own home, the Lord of the universe. St. Joseph, as a descendant of David, was to take Emmanuel – God with us – into his own family, into his own genealogy, to be of the house of David. Joseph, the just man, the upright and obedient descendant of David, was to be the means whereby scripture would be fulfilled, and Joseph’s acceptance of this was the last ingredient that was needed for God’s plan to be put into action. Joseph was the first one after Mary to accept the Lord Jesus Christ into his life.

As Jesus comes to us as Word and through Sacrament, so we need to be as Joseph was: willing to serve, willing to obey, willing to open our own hearts and our own homes to the living God who has come to us. Just as St. Joseph had a role in fulfilling God’s plan for the world, so do we. But we need to be intentional about it. Are we opening ourselves to what God has planned for us? Do we pray regularly? Are we involved in regular works of charity? Are we holding a grudge against anyone? Are we giving in to gossip? These are the sorts of things that can either help or hinder us from following the example of St. Joseph.

We need to open our hearts and our minds and our lives to Christ. And when we do that we’ll be helping others to open themselves and their lives to the Incarnate God, who wants all of us to be in that closer relationship with Him.

 Let that be your resolution this Christmas – to be like Mary, to be like Joseph, in saying “yes” to God’s call for us to be close to Him, and to obey His divine plan for our lives. It’s in obedience that we find real freedom; it’s when we say “yes” to God that we become the men and women He intends us to be.