Homily

As a way of protecting us from the distractions and worries that have nothing to do with meeting Jesus, today’s liturgy accompanies us all the way up to the threshold of Christmas. The Church wants that this Christmas be full of meaning and joy for each one of us. On the threshold of the holy night, we meet Joseph, a man like so many others, a carpenter in a small village in Galilee. Neither he, nor his village, nor Galilee were considered to be important by society at that time. In fact, that region, because it was on the periphery, did not enjoy a good reputation. Joseph lived out his meagre life working and dreaming of his future. He dreamed of a normal life, with a family and a work, all in all a decent life. He took a young girl from the village to be his wife, as he tranquilly awaited the realization of his dream. One day, however, his dream was disturbed. Mysteriously, Mary became pregnant. What had happened? One could have spoken of (and accused her of) adultery. At that time, Judaism enforced "repudiation" of women accused of adultery. Joseph, then, insofar as being a betrayed husband, should have repudiated Mary, with all the attendant civil and penal consequences that would come crashing down upon her, a girl who would now be seen as an adulterer, refused and marginalized not only by her family, but by all of the inhabitants of Nazareth.
Joseph, a righteous man, decided to dismiss her quietly so as not to expose her to such a distressing situation. He may have been young, but Joseph was pious and wise. Either way, however, his dream was shattered. There was nothing left for him to do but reflect on that bitter experience. We can imagine his predicament and the thoughts that spun around in his head. But God does not abandon him to the thoughts in his head. While examining himself sullenly and perhaps without hope for his future, Joseph resumes dreaming. "An angel of the Lord appeared to him," writes the evangelist. This time his dream was no longer small, bound to the small life of a carpenter, a life which he himself had planned. His dream now was about something much bigger: "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." This is the Christmas Gospel. We could say that this is the Christmas "dream": a child will save the entire world from sin; a child will liberate the world from all kinds of slavery. Joseph, a simple carpenter from a small village on the periphery of the empire, finds himself living life with a new and larger horizon, that of Christmas. No longer his small dream, but the larger dream of the Lord, the limitless dream of the Gospel. Joseph wakes up and does as the angel had commanded him to do: he takes Mary with him. Joseph, the humble carpenter, stands before us today to exhort us to listen to the Gospel, to welcome the dream impregnated in the angel’s word. Joseph is not among the principal actors of the Gospel. And yet, he takes part in the greatness and joy of that night: he takes Mary and the child with him. Each one of us is asked to take the Gospel with us and to abandon the banal egocentrism of our own small dreams and aspirations. On Christmas, we should dream big. Although small and often banal, we, too, can take part in God’s great design of love that he has for humanity. With Joseph’s company, we draw nearer to the holy night to welcome the Lord and to walk with him along the paths of humanity.