The readings for this Sunday are an immediate preparation for Christmas

The readings for this Sunday are an immediate preparation

for Christmas. We come upon Joseph. A very disappointed

Joseph. The beautiful young girl he would soon take into

his home was pregnant. His life was falling apart around

him. What was Joseph thinking? Would he have forgiven

Mary a supposed indiscretion if she were not

pregnant? But she was pregnant. The child was ruining

everything.

And then the angel came in the dream and told him that the

child will make all things wonderful. He is the

Saviour. Mary has remained virtuous. And Joseph was

given the opportunity to take the Messiah into his family.

Basically, Joseph was told to celebrate this unexpected

birth.

This year we had quite many Baptisms – a positive sign for

our parish. It means that many babies have become

members of our community. Some of our young moms are

carrying their babes under their hearts. Those first few

months, when it is their secret, must be wonderful. Then

when they are ready to share their secret, family and

friends celebrate the coming child. And every child has a

right to have his or her coming celebrated.

That right extends also to those children whose coming,

like the Lord’s, is not expected, whether their parents

thought they were done having children or whether their

parents did not even consider that their actions could lead

to their conception. It makes not difference. Once the

coming of a child is learned, the child should be

celebrated.

Soon at our homes we will sing sweet carols about the

Babe of Bethlehem. Although we know that this is the

Second Person of the Trinity, the All Powerful One, we

also know that he chose to become one of us, totally one of

us, even being conceived and carried in a womb and being

an infant, toddler, child, teen and young adult before

revealing himself to the world at his Baptism by John the

Baptist. And so we focus on his infancy. We tell him in

song to “sleep in heavenly peace.” We sing of the

unexpected joy.

Every child has a right to be celebrated with love. Every

child has a right to be carried inside and outside the Mom

with deep love. Every child is a joy, whether a planned joy

or an unexpected joy. Every child has a right to be carried

and to sleep in heavenly peace, not in emotional turmoil.

Babies and children in general need material things, but

they need more than that. They need warmth and love.

It is clear from the scripture that Joseph provided for more

than Jesus’s external needs. He loved the child. He took

him into his family. He named him. And, I am certain, he

held him and rocked him to sleep when Mary was

exhausted. He celebrated this unexpected child and in

doing so celebrated the presence of God’s love on earth.

We pray to St. Joseph today to help us to do what he

did. We need to care for, to love and to celebrate our

babies. In doing so we are celebrating the arrival of yet

another reflection of the presence of God on earth.

Fr. Janusz Roginski, S.A.C.