Fourth Sunday of Advent A

What happened to Saint Joseph? He was the last one to find out about the good news. They came to congratulate him and he was puzzled. He was supposed to know as a husband and a father, but he was left confused and bewildered. Mary kept silent. She looked at his worried face. A few times he tried to ask her a question, but she didn’t answer. God normally allows his loved ones to experience trials.

Joseph didn’t judge her, he couldn’t; she is so good and so pure. And now that she is expecting, she looks more beautiful, more feminine; she is glowing. She looks so innocent and full of God. But why did she keep the secret to herself? Why is she not talking to him, about such an important matter that concern them both? She must have her reasons.

What can he do? He cannot blame her, he knows it is not her fault. For sure, she must be doing what God wants her to do. Then, he must take the blame; he has to get out of the way, leaving God in command. He can assume the responsibility for the pregnancy, he can take the blame, look in the eyes of the world as the guilty one. But, he doesn’t want to leave her; he can’t. That’s the hardest thing for him. He can take the blame, but he cannot abandon her. He loves her so much! He has put his heart in her hands. They had decided to live a life of consecration to God and he was very happy to be with her and look after her. He was over the moon and was looking forward to bring her to his home. And now this unexpected pregnancy. This has thrown overboard all his plans. And she is acting as if nothing has happened.

Joseph gives us a great example of how not to judge. Qui iudicat Dominus est. Who judges? He is the Lord. It is not our task to do it. We don’t have all the facts, we don’t know all the circumstances. Even though we think we know, because it has happened before, because it is very clear, because there is no other explanation; but Joseph gives us an example of how sometimes we can make mistakes, and we can assume things that are not true. All of us, we have made erroneous judgments in the past. Whenever we want to judge, whenever we think we know all the facts, we should think about Joseph.

Joseph goes to bed without having solved the problem. It doesn’t allow him to sleep. He keeps going over and over it in his mind, but eventually he gets tired and falls asleep. And an angel of the Lord appears to him in a dream, most likely Saint Gabriel, who is very involved in this business, and tells him the whole truth. Imagine Joseph’s joy on hearing this news. He woke up straight away and went to Mary’s house. She looked at him, at his radiant face, and realised immediately that he was now in the loop. We need to dream big. The devil wants us to get discouraged, to drag our feet through the mud, to paralyse us, to drug us with little compensations. He knows that God’s plans for us have big consequences, and he tries to play them down. Like Joseph, he confuses us and tries to get us to blame others. All we need to do, like Joseph, is to be faithful to God’s plans for us, even though many times we do not know where they are taking us. We need to be patient and sleep well.

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