September 08, 2017

Gospel: Mt 1:1-16, 18-23
This is the account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham.
Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar), Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron of Aram. Aram was the father of Aminadab, Aminadab of Nahshon, Nahshon of Salmon.
Salmon was the father of Boaz. His mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed. His mother was Ruth. Obed was the father of Jesse.
Jesse was the father of David, the king. David was the father of Solomon. His mother had been Uriah’s wife.
Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Then came the kings: Abijah, Asaph, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah.
Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
After the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel and Salathiel of Zerubbabel.
Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud of Eliakim, and Eliakim of Azor. Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, and Akim the father of Eliud. Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar of Matthan, and Matthan of Jacob.
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 not 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.“ All this happened in order to ful?ll what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and he will be called Emmanuel, which means: God-with-us.

REFLECTION:
Modern human being prides in being “self-made“—unique and original—and consequently suffers from utter loneliness and depression. Thankfully, the notion of being self-made is a lie. No one fathers (or mothers) oneself: Life is given in love and received with joy. We carry the legacy and heritage of all those who have gone before us. It is this connectedness and being part of something or someone else that the genealogy of Jesus presents before us. We celebrate the Nativity of Mary today—the feast that reminds us that Mary too wasn‘t self-made, but was born of a set of parents who had a significant part in shaping her life. We can be pretty sure that Mary remained grateful to her parents for their role in her life, and to God who was God-with-her. In moments of loneliness, it helps to remind ourselves of our genealogy that links us all the way to God.