Please read this passage before reading the homily.
I have a nephew who is not related to me in any way by blood. Yet he is a Vincent through and through. He is my sister’s adopted son. To be a Vincent means that you have to be related to the Vincents somehow or other.
The prophet Samuel was considered a son of the priest Eli because Eli has raised him.
To be a son of David likewise means having a membership in David’s family. Joseph, therefore, had to raise the Child Jesus, thereby passing on to him his rights of being a son of David.
The depth of love can be matched by the same depth of scorn. Joseph loved Mary dearly despite her pregnancy. He had four choices. He could have put Mary on public trial and had her stoned to death. He could have had a private trial, which would have ruined her good name and the name of her family. He could have divorced her without stating a reason, and the rumors fly. He chose the fourth option; he proceeded to marry her and to accept the child as his own. The depth of Joseph’s love was matched by the depth of his mercy.
The Holy Spirit does not work in a sexual way. The Holy Spirit did not marry Mary. The Holy Spirit is a creating Spirit. Just as the Holy Spirit was creative in the first chapters of the book of Genesis, so was the Holy Spirit creative and active in the moment of re-creation.
Just as God formed Eve from the body of Adam and made her female from the male, so also does the Word of God take flesh in the womb of a woman, and the male came from the female. Eve came from Adam and Jesus came from Mary. We have here in Matthew’s Gospel Genesis renewed. All this is to show that is with us, despite our doubts and hesitations.
To recap: The creative Holy Spirit enables Mary to conceive and bear a son. The Holy Spirit enables Joseph to accept the mother and child as his own. The Holy Spirit makes God present to us.
In all this, the mystery of God is united with the mystery that we are. God is with us as God was with Joseph, Mary and their people. God’s mystery, Joseph’s mystery and our mystery become one mystery, as God comes to us so that we can come to God.