Jeremiah 23:5-8 / Matthew 1:18-24
There is no better place to be than to be at home, especially for Christmas.
Surely, to be at home for Christmas is a warm good feeling, especially to be among family and loved ones.
Home is where we can call our own place with our own space, a place to be comfortable and secure.
The 1st reading was really good news for People of God who were in exile in a foreign land as the Lord says: Judah will be saved and Israel dwell in confidence.
And a promise is also made: the Lord will lead back and bring home the descendants of the House of Israel out of the land of the North and from all the countries to which He had dispersed them, to live on their own soil.
That was certainly good news for the people as they longed to go back to their own country and to their own homes and to live on their own soil.
But for Joseph to find out that Mary was with child, that was not good news to him at all.
Being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, Joseph decided to divorce Mary informally, but the angel of the Lord intervened and he changed his mind, and he took Mary to his home.
As we draw closer to Christmas, let us make our homes a place of prayer where there will be love, peace and joy.
Joseph made a place for Mary and Jesus in his home.
May we also make a place for Jesus, Mary and Joseph in our homes.