God's plan

Gospel Reflection

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.

When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,

but before they lived together,

she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.

Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,

yet unwilling to expose her to shame,

decided to divorce her quietly.

Such was his intention when, behold,

the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,

"Joseph, son of David,

do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.

For it is through the Holy Spirit

that this child has been conceived in her.

She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,

because he will save his people from their sins."

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall name him Emmanuel,

which means "God is with us."

When Joseph awoke,

he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him

and took his wife into his home.

Matthew 1:18-24

Today we are on the last week of the Advent season, the fourth Sunday of Advent and we just lighted the fourth candle in our Advent wreath symbolizing love. 

The love of God that is Christ. True divine love. God's boundless and infinite love for us. 

Today is also the third day of our novena mass, recognizing the important role of Mary in the birth of our savior, Jesus, God our Savior, Emmanuel, God with us. 

And in our readings we heard about the conception of Christ and the pregnancy of Mary from the perspective of Joseph. Joseph who was betrothed to the young girl, Mary.

Joseph who is of the Davidic ancestry. Joseph whose faithfulness in God also meant having full trust in God's love, knowing that God will never put his children in the way of harm. 

So, what happened? Everything was already planned for their marriage - Joseph and Mary - but apparently God has a different plan, and Mary became pregnant before they got married. 

Joseph must have felt angry, betrayed, frustrated, but despite what he may be feeling at the moment his justness did not push him to seek revenge. Mary becoming pregnant before marriage, while she was already betrothed means that she was unfaithful, she already committed adultery and for this she could be judged with a most painful death by stoning. (See Deut 22:23)

But Joseph was a just man, and so instead of creating a scene, he instead planned to divorce Mary silently so she won't be guilty of adultery as it would mean that she is not committed to Joseph or to any other man at the time that she became pregnant. 

But  God has another plan and for this he relayed it to Joseph of which Joseph willingly gave himself. So what did he do? In full faith, he abandoned his plan of divorcing Mary and trusting in God's love, he embraced Mary and took her for his wife, taking Jesus as his son, giving Jesus the right to the throne of David. 

Our plans may not always push through, but we must trust that God would not allow us to suffer and give ourselves to him for the fulfillment of His plan for us, for our lives and for all of humanity. Each one of us, have a role in God's plan for our salvation and redemption.

In our first reading we heard how God encouraged Ahaz to ask Him for a sign that truly He is with him and would help him in waging war against his enemies who are plotting to dethrone him. But he refused, because it would mean that his faith is weak and he needed some form of evidence. He would be putting God to the test, so to speak. In reality, his faith was weak and that is why he had a plan of his own, just in case God's plan would  not work. but his plan was on putting faith in man rather than god, in his tactics, in his strength and all. God was not pleased.

We are like Ahaz sometimes. 

Yes, I trust you Lord, but just in case I will also do this and that. Just in case. And when our plans fail, we blame God. But then God has a plan, in his own time, we just can't wait, we just can't fully trust Him.

How then can He work his plan for us and in us if we cannot let go of ourselves and give ourselves fully to Him? 

Joseph is an example on how we can let go of ourselves so that god can bring about the fulfillment of his plan for our lives.

Joseph did not have second thoughts. Our Gospel would tell us that on waking up he immediately let go of his own plan and decided to marry Mary, knowing full well that god's plan is much bigger than his, that His plan has zero probability of failure and all He asks from us is to trust in Him, in due time He will fulfill His plan for us. 

As we continue with our celebration we ask God for a heart that strives to fully trust Him, allowing Him to work in our lives, to use us, and the courage to let go of our own plans in favor of God's plans. 

This advent season let us ask for God's guidance in discerning his plan for our lives.

Image: Ben White | Unsplash