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Friday of the ThirdWeek of Advent
Jeremiah 23:5-8
Psalm 72:1-2, 12-13, 18-19
MT 1:18-25
Summary
Only one more week to go!!! The excitement is building in our readings today,
as they speak of the justice and peace which our Saviour will bring when he
comes to save us from sin and death, and bring us to the promise of eternal life!
In the First Reading, Jeremiah tells us that the king who the Lord will raise up
will “reign and govern wisely”, and “do what is just and right in the land”. Our
Responsorial Psalm reinforces that theme by stating that “justice shall flourish in
His time, and fullness of peace forever”. And finally, Matthew tells us in the
Gospel that our new king will “save His people from their sins”. Sounds like a
pretty incredible King, doesn’t He? Well, He is!!!
Reflection
Matthew’s beautiful Gospel account tells us of Joseph’s conundrum, as he realiz-
es that Mary, his betrothed, is with child, but that the child cannot possibly be
his. Joseph is a really, really good guy, and doesn’t want Mary to be stoned to
death, so he
decides to just
“divorce her
quietly’… that
is until the an-
gel of the Lord
appears to him
and tells him
that it is
through the
Holy Spirit
that Mary has
conceived, and that her son will “save his peo-
ple from their sins”. Pretty heavy stuff for Jo-
seph to handle, and this is before background
checks and paternity testing. Besides, as we es-
tablished earlier, Joseph is a
really, really, REAL-
LY
good guy! Joseph’s faith in the words of the