Be like St. Joseph

Here is the homily I preached on Christmas Day at the Mass during the Night and at the noon Mass, here in the Cathedral.
 
When you look at the Christmas crib, at the BVM and the Christ-Child wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in the manger, what else do you see? Looking around, yes, the shepherds, the Three Kings, the ox and the ass, but who else? There in the background, prouder than anyone, is a strong, silent man – we have no recorded words of his – a man humble, decisive, just and holy: I mean Mary’s husband. St. Joseph was involved in all the events of Christmas: the census in Bethlehem, the birth in a stable, the homage of the Magi, the flight into Egypt, the presentation in the Temple. This man of high principles also played a key role in the hidden years of Jesus’s home life in Nazareth: His childhood, His adolescence, His human development. Joseph shared with Jesus all his love, wisdom and experience. He taught Him a trade, the value of work, how to earn a living. He socialised Jesus into the cultural and religious mores of the day. More, he gave Jesus an example of being male, a boy, a youth, an adult. Although not His biological father, in this profoundly good Foster-Father, Jesus would surely have recognised a brilliant and faithful icon of His heavenly Father. But Joseph also had one quality all of us need to learn from. Let me come back to this in a moment.
 
For this Christmas, there’s no shortage of grey skies, weariness, doom and gloom. There are many intentions we need to pray for: peace in the Holy Land and the release of hostages, an end to the useless war in Ukraine, better efforts to tackle climate-change, a solution to the economic crisis and the challenge of mass migration. In our own lives too, we all face many difficulties of our own. Yet as Prophet Isaiah said: The people that walked in darkness has seen a great light; on those who live in a land of deep shadow, a light has shone. Christmas is about light. It’s about hope. It’s about a new birth, a fresh start. It tells us: God has not abandoned us. He is with us. A Saviour has been born to us: Christ the Lord. Christmas reassures us that not only there is a God: He is our Father. He is on our side. He loves us, and He wants the best for us.
The thing we can learn from St. Joseph is this. We read it in the Gospel passage from St. Matthew that begins: This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph but before they came to live together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Imagine what a shock it must have been to Joseph to find out that the young girl he was engaged to was pregnant; even more, imagine how bewildering it must have been to hear her explanation, that this Child had come from the Holy Spirit. Yet Joseph was highly sensitive to God. He had a dream in which God told him it was His vocation to take Mary to his home as his wife. For from Her would be born a Son Whom he must name Jesus, because he would be the world’s Saviour. In other words, Joseph was an alert listener. He was a man of prayer listening out for God’s Word. He heard it and he put it into practice. That’s our task too. We need to imitate Joseph. We too need to be good listeners, attentive to what God is asking of us. We too need in prayer to listen out daily for the Word of God, speaking to us in our hearts and minds, or through the Church, or through other people and the events of life.
 
Today, a Saviour has been born to us: he is Christ the Lord. In this Mass, in which we pray for our fathers and our mothers, living and dead, and for our families, let’s open our hearts to welcome Jesus our Saviour. Let’s resolve to be like Joseph. In 2024, let’s listen every day for what God is asking of us. I wish you a happy Christmas, and a splendid year ahead.
 
Image credit: https://www.oursundayvisitor.com