Fourth Sunday of Advent - Year A
December 18, 2016
Gospel: Mt 1:18-24
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When
his mother Mary was betrothed (1) 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 (2)
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
(3) in her. She will bear (4) 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.
http://www.usccb.org
The difficult words
(1)Betrothed means engaged.
(2)To divorce, in this case, means break off
the engagement. (Some of the marriage customs were different in the time of Jesus.)
(3)To be conceived means to begin living and growing
in a mother's womb.
(4)To bear means to give birth to a child.
This week’s spotlight
Who is Joseph?
Joseph was a carpenter in the village of Nazareth,
where Mary grew up. He belonged to the same family as the great King David. He
was already engaged to Mary when God asked him to bring up Jesus as his son. He
brought Mary to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. Later, after an angel’s
warning, he protected Mary and Jesus from harm by taking them to Egypt for
awhile. Later he brought his family home to Nazareth.
Faith
To have faith means to believe in God and accept his
Good News. It means trusting in him and knowing that he loves us. Faith is a
gift from God, and like the gifts we receive
at Christmas, we have to accept them and unwrap them in order to use or
enjoy them. We “unwrap" the gift of faith through prayer. In prayer; we
can thank God for all his gifts, and we can praise him for his goodness. We can
ask him to fill our needs or to help us in a difficult time, and we can ask his
forgiveness when we have done wrong.
Faith goes hand in hand with trust. The more we trust God, the more our
faith can grow.
Reflection
What a surprise!
Joseph was a good man who trusted in God.
When he got engaged to Mary, he was happy. Then one day, he learned that his
future wife was pregnant! He didn’t understand how this could be, and it looked
bad for them both. He was about to break their engagement when something
amazing happened: An angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him to take Mary
as his wife, because her child was conceived by the power of God. He would be
named Jesus, and he would save the people from their sins. Joseph, like Mary,
trusted God, so he did as the angel said. It was not easy for them to do as God
wanted. You may have surprises and struggles of your own. Things don’t always
work out as you hope or expect. Learn from Joseph and Mary: Trust in God, and
seek his will - for God is always with us!
Discussion questions
1.What does Joseph plan to do at first?
2.How does God prepare Joseph for the birth of Jesus?
3.What kind of a man is Joseph?
4.What does the angel of the Lord tell Joseph?
5.Does Joseph obey God’s message?
After
receiving Holy Communion,
you can say this prayer silently to yourself. If you
have not yet
received your First Communion, you can still say this prayer because of your desire to
receive Jesus.
Father, through Jesus, in
communion with the whole Church, I thank you for coming into my heart. Thank
you for your Son, Jesus, the most beautiful present ever. Help us to welcome
him again into our hearts and homes this Christmas.
This week…
In God, you trust
Trusting in God means putting him
first in your life and trying always to do his will. Each morning and night
this week, pray the Our Father, and then add: “I trust in you, God. Help me
always to do your will.” You can pray it again during the day.
Prepare a surprise
Do you like surprises? Give
someone a pleasant surprise this week. Do your household chores extra well,
phone a relative who you haven’t talked to for awhile, or make a special treat
to share with your family.
Word search
Source: usccb.org
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