From the Pastoral Team
From Our Deacon
In this season of Advent, the Good News, the Gospel, invites us to “wake up.” To live in the present, to live in God’s time, ‘kairos’. Where Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, or God with us, is literally the living and real God who dwells in each one of us. This is our great truth, which shines on our Church like the star of Bethlehem. But living in God’s time entails a great sacrifice of our ego, our way of thinking, and our lifestyle.
In the Gospel according to Matthew, the arrival and the childhood of Jesus are linked to the person of Joseph. Contemplating the figure of Joseph, we can see the action of someone who lives his life righteously, and justly… but in an earthly way or in accordance to our own lifestyle or time (kronos). Joseph was a good and just man, but he was also a man of his time, attached to its laws and precepts. The invitation he receives from God to accept Mary, who is expecting a child, goes against the laws and precepts of his time. “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife!” How often in our lives, are our logical and practical minds an obstacle to enter into God’s time? And we can ask ourselves, should we stop living in our time to live in God’s time? This is what the mystery of the incarnation of Jesus came to do. The arrival of Jesus comes to unite the divine with the earthly, kairos, and kronos.
Joseph trusted God and believed in the angel’s message. Even though he was scared, he was open to the presence of the Holy Spirit in his life. He was able to respond generously to his call, giving himself completely, just as Mary did, to God’s time and work. Saint Joseph’s actions have consequences that favor Mary and the child to be born; it gives Jesus the ability to belong to a family and to a people. Therefore, it gives him an identity and a place in society. God fully becomes human and enters into earthly existence, and does so with the collaboration of the just man, who works diligently “so that the Scriptures may be fulfilled.”
Joseph receives a lesson on the amazing ways in which God works. Surely God is saying something here about His ability to deliver good even in situations the world thinks are outrageous. “Nothing is impossible for God”.
Peace and good, Br. Salvador Mejía, OFM
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