Advent: Awaiting God’s Justice. Advent watchfulness means living in God’s presence and according to his criteria in order to prepare a worthy dwelling-place for the promised Saviour
Pope Benedict XVI
The Grandeur of Joseph.
In the world in which Mary and Joseph lived, daughters would pass from their father’s possession into the hands of their husbands, whose power was supreme, beginning at the the moment of betrothal. If the relationship proved ruinous, it was because the husband had rejected a woman bound to him.
That Joseph does not repudiate his betrothed, despite his discovery the Mary is pregnant with another’s child, is astonishing. The account of a conception for which he was not responsible must have been deeply wounding. Still, for all that he is entitled to collect in the way of punitive damages, he refuses to go that route, resolving instead “to divorce her quietly.” At which point, of course, an angel of the Lord intervenes, advising him not to heed the counsel of fear but to welcome Mary into his home, since the child she bears is the Son of the living God, whom he is to name Jesus, “because he will save his people from their sins.”
Here Joseph reveals his true greatness, which is more than a kind heart and a selfless spirit. It is the memory of a promise delivered to God’s people, which Joseph, as a true son of David, longs to see fulfilled. That his own part in the drama looms so large in the telling must strike him as more astonishing.
Regis Martin – Magnificat Advent Companion. Nov/Dec 2014
Reflection based on Matthew 1:18-25
Today, Christmas Day we light the fifth candle, white, the“CHRIST CANDLE” – The white candle reminds us that Jesus is the spotless lamb of God, sent to wash away our sins! His birth was for his death, his death was for our birth! “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!‘” (John 1:29), seems pretty certain that in many German homes families had a custom of lighting four candles during advent, candles placed in a wreath of evergreens. When these candles were lit, Scripture and prayer was part of the custom and the family devotion time was a time of instructing the children about Christ’s coming. Later, the custom crossed over different denominational lines and other faith traditions adapted its use. Today, you can find Advent wreathes in many Protestant and Roman Catholic churches.