How Jesus' Birth came about

December 18, Saturday of the Third Week of Advent
Daily Readings: Jeremiah 23:5-8 & Matthew 1:18-25

We, Christians, know Joseph through Mary, the mother of Jesus. Joseph loved Mary very much. He showed his love to Mary by suppressing his doubts about her chastity and allowed himself to be a human father of her child. Joseph is a brave father of Jesus. He protected Mary and her child although many difficulties were experienced. He was not afraid to give up his life for Mary and Child Jesus.

Advent is seldom observed as a time of the Holy Spirit, but in the annunciation to Joseph and Mary earlier, the Spirit is not dead but at work. Today's gospel reading speaks about how Jesus' birth came about. The event of Jesus' birth reflects ours also. When we were born, our household was full of joy in their faces. Our family members welcomed us at the time of our birth.

But Jesus' birth is not like ours. He was born in a manger. It is very strange. In a mysterious, miraculous way, known only in faith, the Spirit's action brings the gift to the world of the God-person, the human in the divine and the divine in the human in a physical and spiritual way. In the humanity of Mary, Jesus is growing, from embryo to child.

In the faith of Joseph, the call first came to all of us to believe the mystery. In prayer, we might picture Mary and Joseph talking together about all that has happened and picture the Holy Spirit in the air, in love and in the atmosphere around them. Bring that presence of the Spirit into your day today.

The Spirit (or Breath) of God was seen as the source of all creation and of all human life. So, just as God created all that exists in the heavens and the earth, now, through the power of God's Spirit, Jesus is conceived in Mary's womb in a special case of God's creativity.

The birth of any child brings with it a sense of awe and wonderment. Can I share a sense of awe and wonder at the incredible fact that God becomes human in a baby boy?