#jospeh

She is an imagined character, but she was surely there, a midwife to help the young Mary give birth to her first baby. #VirginaMary #Midwife #BirthofChrist

She is an imagined character, but she was surely there, a midwife to help the young Mary give birth to her first baby. What if the midwife was local to Bethlehem?  What if she had already helped the aging Elizabeth give birth to her one and only child? Even though the character is imagined, there is historical material throughout this episode. I lose my accent somewhere in the…

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David,” (Jer 23:5) And indeed those days are upon us. Today our gospel is the story of the angel’s message to Joseph as he ponders what to do now that he knows Mary “was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph…since he was a righteous man, [was] unwilling to expose her to shame, [and so] decided to…

It’s complicated

When I was younger, I didn’t mind complicated and messy – especially things that were puzzles to explore, solve, or unravel. I enjoyed things that provided creative moments in which new, imaginative solutions might emerge. But alas, I am no longer as young as I once was. I feel a part within me that longs for quiet, uncomplicated, resolved, still interesting, but not so messy and complicated as…

Marriage destroys the Devil’s plan by Basil of Caesarea

“An ancient author offered another reason. The marriage with Joseph was planned so that Mary’s virginity might remain hidden from the prince of this world. For the external forms of marriage were adopted by the Virgin, almost as if to distract the Evil One, who has always preyed on virgins, ever since he heard the prophet announcing: “Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son” (Is 7:14).…