NOTES for Mat 1:16-24

Today we read about what was probably the most terrible moment in Saint Joseph's life. The young woman he loved, whom he regarded as the purest and most beautiful of all, is pregnant by someone unknown... For Joseph, this must have been a catastrophe. Joseph does not wish Mary any harm. He understands perfectly well what will happen to Her if anyone else learns of this (in Israel, adultery was punishable by a terrible execution—stoning). He therefore wants to give Her the opportunity somehow to conceal what he undoubtedly cannot help regarding as sin. I think it was difficult for Joseph to make any decision at all. And what a shock the Angel's words must have been for him! It is remarkable that Joseph accepts such an incredible message. It would be foolish to suppose that he had little idea where children come from. The information that Mary's Child is from the Holy Spirit was even more absurd and incomprehensible to Joseph than it is to us: we have all heard this story since childhood, while Joseph could recall only one prophecy, the very one the Angel reminds him of. Saint Joseph's trust in both God and Mary is so great that he accepts the incredible message.