Simbang Gabi 2013, Day 3: Of Fear and Pride

I love it when someone turns my head around on a Bible interpretation. It happened last week, when my friend TonyD wrote about Elizabeth’s close moment to the Lord during the Visitation; I’d only ever thought about her interaction with Mary at that time. This morning, it was Joseph and that dream we hear about in Matthew 1:18-25 when the angel came to provide reassurance about Mary’s pregnancy.

I’ve always seen Joseph as a bit prideful and stiff-necked at finding his betrothed with child. The community must have been whispering about the situation, making Joseph out to be sinfully lustful or cuckolded. But at this morning’s Simbang Gabi Mass, our celebrant, Father Searby, had a different take: Joseph felt unworthy. He was afraid. How could he be a husband to Mary and a father to the child when she was already taken, already a bride of the Holy Spirit? That’s why, Father Searby said, the angel referred to Joseph as the “son of David,” to remind him of his background, of his story, and urged Joseph not to be afraid. “Where God is involved, there is nothing to be afraid of in losing ourselves,” the priest said. “… Every vocation requires that we lose ourselves.”

Joseph wakes from the dream a changed man, one who rises and takes Mary into his home. It doesn’t matter what people might or might not be saying; he now knows his vocation, and obediently accepts it, setting aside his fears.

Vocations are funny that way. They sneak up on you. Sometimes they scare you. Sometimes they seem too big and grandiose; other times, too small and insignificant. But when we prayerfully remember where we come from, and where we’re going, we like Joseph find a way to set aside those doubts and get about the Lord’s work.