＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊ 

2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16

But that very night,

Yahweh’s word came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, this is what Yahweh says: When the time comes for you to rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your son after you, the one born of you; and I will make his reign secure.

He shall build a house for my name and I will firmly establish his kingship forever. I will be a father to him and he shall be my son. Your house and your reign shall last forever before me, and your throne shall be forever firm.”

 

Ps 89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29

The son of David will live forever.

 

＊＊＊ 2nd Reading ＊＊＊

Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22

 If God promised Abraham, or rather his descendants, that the world would belong to him, this was not because of his obeying the Law, but because he was just and a friend of God through faith.

  For that reason, faith is the way and all is given by grace; and the promises of Abraham are fulfilled for all his descendants, not only for his children according to the Law, but also for all the others who have believed.

 Abraham is the father of all of us,   as it is written: I will make you father of many nations. He is our father in the eyes of Him who gives life to the dead, and calls into existence what does not yet exist, for this is the God in whom he believed.

Abraham believed and hoped against all expectation, thus becoming father of many nations, as he had been told: See how many will be your de­scendants.   This was taken into account for him to attain righteousness.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊  

Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a (or Luke 2:41-51a)

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and from her came Jesus who is called the Christ – the Messiah. This is how Jesus Christ was born: Mary, his mother, had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to disgrace her. While he was pondering over this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, descendant of David, do be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a son. You shall call him 'Jesus' for he will save his people from their sins." When Joseph awoke, he did what the angel the Lord had told him to do.

 

Gospel Reflection：

God's Dreams

Ever since Pope Francis spoke of having a statue of 'Sleeping Joseph' under whose head he places his petitions, the statue has become a hot favorite of many catholics. Let us pause before the statue and meditate on his 'sleep.'

Here is a young man whose dreams of life came crashing down! (Though we tend to present him as aged due to our own hang-ups, there is nothing in the Scriptures that says so!)

But he does not complain; there is no self-pity or temper tantrums. He sleeps, peacefully, trustingly, like Abraham whom Paul mentions today. Joseph truly has entered the "rest of God" (cf. Heb 4:10). In his restful sleep of trust, he receives God's own dreams.

He wakes up and fulfills them. So, perhaps instead of pushing our petitions under Joseph's pillow to force God's hands, we will do well to imitate his sleep of trustful rest, hoping to receive God's dreams.

 

Some Saints are privileged to extend to us their patronage with particular efficacy in certain needs, but not in others; but our holy patron St. Joseph has the power to assist us in all cases, in every necessity, in every undertaking.      – St. Thomas Aquinas