Within the Advent journey two people faced a common challenge
but from completely different perspectives …

Joseph:

Angels,
divine intervention,
assured you of the right
to remain faithful
and be a father to the child
who could not be yours.

(Today, it would not be an issue).

But then!

It crossed your mind, of course,
to put her away –
as much for her sake as for yours.
The final act of love that you could make
to honour and protect her.

What tangled thoughts
must have engaged
your emotions and understanding?

Why me?
Why her?
Why now?

Questions every human asks
sometimes with force;
sometimes rhetorically
with just the loose comfort
of having asked them …

But,
on this occasion,
such was the enormity
of the plan you were part of,
the answer did come.

And so,
with that deepening assurance,
without any thought
to grasp at greatness,
riches or posterity,
you became the chosen man
to be the earthly father
of the Son of God! 

 

Mary:

Like a precious pearl
you grew in innocence;
quietly minding your own thoughts,
obedient to counsel
and familiar with the Word.

You were prepared
for that common destiny,
betrothed by custom,
to a man …
chosen by your family

Yet,
such tradition
could not prepare you
for your true calling;
beyond comprehension,
beyond custom,
beyond man …

Your open purity,
your obedient heart,
your submissive will;
these became the foundation
on which the Divine Choice
was made
and the Eternal Promise
revealed.

Innocence is always
vulnerable to attack
by that dark perversion
which devastates
our broken world.
Neither does it escape
the taunts of
unfaithfulness and
hypocrisy …

But you,
overshadowed
by nothing less
than the Holiness of God,
received Heaven’s Incarnate Light.

From the obscurity of the womb
the Light of the World
would spring
and,
as the Innocent Man,
rebirth our innocence
through grace and truth.