GOSPEL, Matthew 1, 18-24 :
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. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’ When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home.
WORDS FOR LIFE
Today let’s talk about Christian virtue. If you ask me what colour it is, I’d say it’s green and if you ask me how we benefit from it, I’d say it enables us to trust in the Lord and get nearer to Him everyday of our life. The Lord himself tells us that the main gain from Christian hope and faithfulness is not the worldly goods of this life which rust, woodworm and thieves conspire to destroy or steal but the joys of an incorruptible inheritance and closeness to our Lord. We hope, trust and know that one day we’ll be allowed into His presence and that His grace and forgiveness of our sins will be granted to us.
