“Anything under God's control is never out of control.”

”When we have once placed ourselves entirely in the hands of God, we need apprehend no evil; if adversity comes, He knows how to turn it to our advantage, by means which will in time be manifested to us.” - Saint Vincent de Paul

Gospel text: (MT 1:18-25)
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet:

Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us.”

When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.
He had no relations with her until she bore a son,
and he named him Jesus.

Did you ever go through a time when you felt that God was not with you?

The promise made to St. Joseph in today’s gospel was that the result of his openness to cooperating with God’s plan would be: “God is with us.” Joseph couldn’t have imagined what that would mean. At times, we can’t imagine what that means for us, today.

There are moments in our life when we see only dead ends. We sometimes are so discouraged by the stresses and challenges we are facing that it is difficult to even think about promises of hope. We can feel trapped – stuck in a situation that fills us with fear, or anger, or which has simply suffocated any ability to dream.

Today, we can pause to remember that “God is with us.” We are not alone. And, in this pause, we can ask for the grace to let Jesus into our hearts – to let him in, past the barriers. What are the barriers? A pause today could help us identify them.