Main news for 18 May 2026

Today we read about perhaps the most terrible moment in the life of Saint Joseph. The girl whom he loved, whom he considered the purest and most beautiful - this girl is pregnant by someone unknown... For Joseph this had to become a catastrophe.

Joseph does not wish Mary harm; he understands perfectly well what will happen to Her if anyone else learns about this (in Israel adultery carried a terrible punishment, stoning). Therefore he wants to give Her some chance to hide what he, undoubtedly, cannot help considering a sin. It must have taken Joseph enormous effort to make any decision at all.

And what a shock the Angel's words must have been for him! It is astonishing that Joseph accepts such incredible news. It would be foolish to suppose that he had little idea where children come from, and therefore the revelation that Mary's Child is from the Holy Spirit sounds to him even more absurd and incomprehensible than it does to us: we have all heard this story from childhood, while Joseph could remember only one single prophecy, which the Angel reminds him of. And so great is Saint Joseph's trust both in God and in Mary that he believes what he has heard without hesitation.