Fourth Sunday of Advent – 21 December 2025
– You can ponder on the picture. For a method of praying with pictures click button below.
– You can pray on the words of Scripture. For methods of praying with scripture click button below.
– You can follow the suggestions in the daily ‘Reflection’.
– You can listen to the music
Today’s Scripture
Matthew 1:18-24 ESV
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to send her away quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel’ — which means, God with us. When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife.
Reflection
In the Christmas story Joseph is the often the neglected, forgotten figure. Yet, he was impacted more than anyone else, apart from Mary, his betrothed. How must he have felt when Mary broke the news to him that she was pregnant? Feeling perhaps that his world had fallen apart: the girl he was betrothed to unfaithful, the marriage he was about to enter into ended before it began. His hopes and dreams in tatters. What was he to do? How could this happen to a just, upright man? Yet through this devastating situation God invites him to a role far beyond his wildest dreams – to be a father to the Son of God!
You are invited to enter into today’s scene and into Joseph’s situation using your imagination, perhaps imagining you are Joseph. How do you feel experiencing all of this? How do you respond? What do you want to say to God, to the angel, to Mary?
Today’s Music
Joseph’s Song – Michael card
O Rising Sun, you are the splendour of eternal light and the sun of justice. O come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
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