JOSEPH, HUSBAND OF MARY
FIRST READING
(2 Samuel 7.4-5a, 12-14a, 16)
4 The word of the Lord came to Nathan:
5 “Go and tell my servant David:
12 ‘When your days are fulfilled
and you lie down with your ancestors,
I will raise up your offspring after you,
who shall come forth from your body,
and I will establish his kingdom.
13 “‘He shall build a house for my name,
and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
14 I will be a father to him,
and he shall be a son to me.
16 Your house and your kingdom
shall be made sure forever before me.’”
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
(Psalm 89.1-2, 3-4, 26,28)
(R.36)
Response: The son of David will live for ever.
1I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever;
with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
2
I declare that your steadfast love is established forever;
your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.
3 You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to my servant David:
4
I will establish your descendants forever,
and build your throne for all generations.”
26 He shall cry to me, “You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation!”
28 Forever I will keep my steadfast love for him,
and my covenant with him will stand firm.
SECOND READING
(Romans 4.13, 16-18, 22)
13 The promise that Abraham would inherit the world
did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law
but through the righteousness of faith.
16 For this reason the promise depends on faith,
in order that the promise may rest on grace
and be guaranteed to all his descendants,
not only to the adherents of the law,
but also to those who share the faith of Abraham.
He is the father of all of us,
17 as it is written,
“I have made you the father of many nations.”
Abraham believed in the presence of the God
who gives life to the dead
and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
18 Hoping against hope,
Abraham believed that he would become
“the father of many nations,”
according to what was said,
“So numerous shall your descendants be.”
22 Therefore his faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.”
GOSPEL
(Matthew 1.16, 18-21, 24a)
16 Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary,
of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way.
When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man
and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace,
planned to dismiss her quietly.
20 But just when he had resolved to do this,
an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife,
for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
21 She will bear a son,
and you are to name him Jesus,
for he will save his people from their sins.”
24 When Joseph awoke from sleep,
he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him;
he took Mary as his wife
