Now the generation of Christ was in this wise. When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost. (Matthew 1:18)

Consider St. Joseph this night, before the angel spoke to him in a dream. To his knowledge, he had been humiliated. His betrothed had been unfaithful and had conceived. Imagine how he felt that night before retiring, a deeply dejected man, planning to put away Mary and wondering if he would ever find happiness. Even after, knowing, he still had to rise above his pride to live with the perceptions of others and what they must have thought. Recent evidence shows Nazareth to have been a town of fifty families, and in a town of fifty families people will talk.

There is a message here, in that, at the very beginning of the Gospel, Mary had to will what God willed and Joseph had to overcome his pride. So must we will as He wills and overcome our pride, if we are to follow Christ- if we are to bring him into the world through ourselves, one could say, letting him be born and flourish within us.