The Birth of Jesus

Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (1: 18-24) which tells how Jesus Christ came to be born.

Fr Paul says, we hear in this Gospel that, at first, Joseph is hesitant to adopt Jesus into his line, into his family, that we learned about yesterday, the line of David. Maybe Joseph thinks that he is not worthy to acknowledge the child as his own or that he is unworthy to bond with Mary, who is with child through the Holy Spirit but the Angel insists that only Joseph can do this job.

As soon as the child is born, it is Joseph, who names the child, Jesus.  Joseph makes Jesus his own through this naming.  After this, we hear little more of Joseph but because of all this Joseph becomes the perfect ideal of the loving father.

So today, Fr Paul says, we might think of all our fathers as we prepare for the birth of Jesus.  We might pray during our prayer today that God’s blessings be on all our Dads, those that are with us and all those that have gone before us.