4th Sunday of Advent
Cycle A
December 22,
2013 4 and 5:30pm
Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air
My Sleeping on a Homily
Often
enough, probably once a month, I find it difficult to get the idea for my
Sunday homily.
I work on
the readings early in the week. I ask
myself: what are these passages, especially the gospel, saying to me and to us?
Sometimes
it just doesn’t get clear to me. And
then what I do is re-read the Scripture passages and some commentaries before
going to bed, maybe on Wednesday evening.
I just
sleep on it. And then, almost always, I
wake up in the morning and it’s clear.
I am suddenly clear on the theme and I
start forming the homily. Sleeping on it
has a way of helping me to see it as I had not seen it before.
Joseph Sleeping on His Dilemma
I
wonder if what happens to Joseph in today’s gospel is something like this.
Joseph
and Mary are betrothed. In that culture,
this was much more than engagement.
Betrothal
meant that they were married but not yet living together. In fact, betrothal could only be ended by
divorce.
Joseph
comes to know that Mary is bearing a child and he knows that the child is not
his. The law calls for Mary to be
publicly shamed and punished.
But
Joseph doesn’t want to see this happen.
So, he decides to divorce Mary quietly, without any accusation against
her.
Still
something tells Joseph to take time with his decision. So he decides to sleep on it and see what he
thinks in the morning.
He
wakes up and now things look different and clear to him. Something within him tells him to trust Mary.
Joseph
actually feels that God is calming him and telling him to go ahead with the
marriage. And that is what he does.
Joseph Responds
Joseph is a great
example for us here.
He doesn’t just
react out of anger or hurt or pride. He
doesn’t react hastily.
Instead, Joseph
takes time to be with the situation and take it inside himself. He gets in touch with what God is saying
within him.
He deals with the
situation and does not avoid it. He is
decisive and not rash.
He is reflective,
deliberative, and not reactive. And, of
course, the result is wonderful.
Joseph cooperates
in binging God’s Son into the world.
What a wonderful example Joseph is for us in how he does this.
I have to ask: how
much more of God’s presence and peace can enter our world if we respond to
situations as Joseph does? Step back –
think – pray – sleep on it – get in touch with what God wants – what a helpful,
positive process this is!
Joseph Respects
Joseph shows one more trait that I don’t want us to miss.
Joseph is a religious man and respects the religious law. That law tells him to divorce Mary.
But, he decides to do this quietly.
Why?
Because he doesn’t want to expose Mary to shame and disgrace. So, he is going to live up to his faith and
his principles, but in a way that is not self-righteous and not destructive of
Mary.
Well again, what a good example Joseph is for us! Sometimes, in the world of religion, in
Christianity, we think that we have to “stand up” for what we believe.
And sometimes, unfortunately, this “standing up” means a “putting
down.” Sometimes we equate “standing up”
for something we believe is right with “putting down” others whom we think are
wrong.
This is such an unfortunate approach.
It is not the way of Joseph or of Jesus.
It is not the way that Pope Francis is modeling and calling us to
embrace. Joseph’s example today, even in
his original way of dealing with the situation, is a great example of being
able to “stand up” for something and of respecting the other person at the same
time.
This is a helpful example in dealing with situations in our
families. It is helpful for us as
persons or for our Church in dealing with issues in our society today.
It is, I believe, the way to bring God’s presence and peace much more
effectively into our world. That is the
lesson of Joseph.
