Sunday the 21st of December 2025 - The Fourth Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 7:10-14/ Ps 24(23)/ Romans 1:1-7/ Matthew 1:18-24

Today we light the fourth candle on the Advent wreath to mark the final week of prayer and penance as we wait for the birth of our Saviour. This final purple candle, the ‘Angel’s Candle,’ symbolises peace. It reminds us of the message of the angels: “Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men.”

In just a few days, we will gather again to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The nativity scenes are set up in our homes and churches, the familiar figures are all in place, Mary, Joseph, shepherds, angels, animals and on Christmas day, the infant Jesus. We have seen these scenes since childhood. But today, on this final Sunday before Christmas, we might pause and look more deeply. Not at the stable in Bethlehem, but at a moment that came before. A moment of crisis, of fear, of impossible choice. A moment when everything hung in the balance. Today we hear of Joseph at his time of decision.

The readings today converge on a single, transforming truth: God enters our human story not by bypassing our struggles, but by entering into them. In Jesus, fully God and fully human, we encounter a God who does not stand at a distance from our pain, confusion, and fear, but walks directly into the middle of it. He invites us to do what Joseph did, to trust even when we cannot understand, to say yes even when the path forward is shrouded in darkness.

Let us consider the position in which Joseph found himself. Matthew tells us simply that Mary "was found to be with child.” Joseph was a craftsman, a builder, a man who worked with his hands. He was betrothed to Mary, which in Jewish custom meant they were legally bound though not yet living together. He had plans, simple, good plans for a quiet life with the woman he loved, but then, everything changed. In those days in that place a woman pregnant outside of marriage faced public disgrace, or even death. The law was clear. Joseph had every legal and social right to expose Mary publicly, to protect his own reputation. But the gospel passage shows us what a loving compassionate man Joseph was. Even in his confusion and pain, the sense of betrayal he must have felt, Joseph's first instinct was compassion. His first thought was to protect Mary. This is where we see the greatness of Joseph. Not in understanding, he didn't understand. Not in clarity, he had none. But in character. In the midst of his darkest confusion, Joseph remained compassionate and loving.

We can all face moments like this. Not the same circumstances, but moments when life makes no sense. When the plans we made fall away. When someone we love disappoints us. When God seems silent and we must make decisions in the dark. Joseph shows us that holiness does not mean having all the answers. Holiness means choosing compassion even when we are hurt, choosing goodness amid confusion.

Into his crisis God spoke to Joseph through the angel telling him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. The angel addressed Joseph as ‘Son of David’, reminding him of who he was, of the covenant story he belonged to. God did not explain everything. He did not answer all of Joseph's questions. Instead, he gave Joseph a mission, to name the child Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. This is where we see Joseph's extraordinary faith. When he awoke, Joseph did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him. No questioning, no demanding of proof, no negotiating. Joseph simply trusted and obeyed.

This obedience of Joseph would not have been without cost. By taking Mary as his wife under these circumstances, Joseph accepted the whispers, the sideways glances, the damage to his reputation. People in Nazareth would count the months and draw their conclusions. Joseph embraced disgrace to protect Mary and to say yes to God's plan. Joseph teaches us what it means to trust God even when trust is costly, to embrace God's will even when we do not fully understand it.

What was God's plan, his will? Isaiah prophesied it seven centuries earlier when he said that the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel, ‘God with us’. Not God detached, observing our struggles from afar. Not God offering advice from a safe distance. But God ‘with ‘us. God entering into our human experience in the most intimate way, by being born as one of us, to a fearful girl and a confused carpenter who had the courage to say yes. This is the incredible truth we prepare to celebrate at Christmas. In Jesus, God knows what it means to be human. He knows what it is like to be vulnerable, to be misunderstood, to have your reputation questioned. He knows the feeling of a mother's embrace and the sting of rejection. He knows physical exhaustion and emotional pain. Jesus is fully human and fully divine. This means that we never face anything alone. Whatever we are going through, financial worries, family conflicts, sickness, temptations. God understands. He has been there and understands our challenges, our weaknesses, and our needs. He lived the human experience as one of us.

Christmas is almost upon us and to be fully prepared to celebrate it we must take the example of Joesph and welcome Jesus into our lives, with all the complications, confusions and fears. Joseph did not wait until everything made sense. He did not wait until his reputation was secure or his future was clear. He said yes in the darkness, trusting in the plan God presented to him even though he could not see the whole picture. The question for each of us is; What is God asking us to say yes to? It might be reconciliation with someone who has hurt us. It might be letting go of a plan of our own and trusting God with an uncertain future. It might be accepting a cross we would rather not accept, an illness, a loss, a disappointment, trusting that even in this, God is Emmanuel, God is with us. Let us spend some time praying with Saint Joseph, asking him to show us how to trust God, to teach us his quiet strength, his willingness to say yes even when it might be costly. Ask Joseph to help us welcome Jesus into our lives. Not a self-invented image of Jesus but the real Jesus, the transforming Jesus who asks us to trust him in everything.

Through the grace of God, his Son Jesus was born human from Mary, and through his human suffering and death leads us through his Resurrection to eternal life. We are baptised into the death of Jesus so that we can rise in his resurrection. This is the gift waiting for us at Christmas, not just a beautiful story, not just a warm feeling, but a relationship with the God who became one of us so that we could become like him. A God who enters our darkness with light, our fear with peace, our death with resurrection.

With Joseph and Mary, let us say yes. Let us welcome Emmanuel, God with us, into our lives and homes this Christmas.

God Bless Brendan.