Christmas is almost here. Most of us are busy preparing for this sacred celebration—the birth of the Messiah. Some of us are so anxious–time is running out.
You are not alone. Anxiety is one of the most overlooked elements of Christmas. Think of the anxieties in this drama. Mary and Joseph. Yes, the angel Gabriel spoke to them. Yes, they received divine assurance. But even then, did they really know how everything would unfold? Did they grasp what it meant to carry, nurture, and raise a child conceived by the Holy Spirit?
The Gospels do not dwell on this part of their story. Instead, every Christmas we sing carols to recount the divine wonder. But pause for a moment and ask: what kind of child were they expecting? What would he look like? How would others see him? Moreover, were they ready for a child whose very existence would challenge everything the world understood about power, lineage, and destiny?
Parenting is never easy. Add the weight of the divine baby. This was no ordinary child—this was the Son of God, the one upon whom all the hopes of Israel rested. Yet he would not be born into a palace or guarded as a prince. He came into the world as an ordinary child, entrusted to the care of an ordinary couple.
There is no doubt that Mary and Joseph were people of faith. But faith does not cancel fear. Each day brought new challenges—a mother of a King who would never live in a castle, and a father whose daily work was that of a humble carpenter. Still, God chose them as instruments of an unfolding miracle far greater than they could imagine, far greater than human history itself. Through them, God who became human was nurtured.
I view Mary and Joseph as models of the Christian life. We are not called to be extraordinary in ourselves in order to do extraordinary things; we are called to be obedient. Obedience does not mean the absence of fear. Fear is human; faith is divine. Faith is trusting that God knows the ending even when we cannot see the next line of the script.
Mary and Joseph were afraid when the call first came, yet they trusted and waited until the child was born. Even then, their fears did not simply disappear. They walked with uncertainty all the way to the cross and beyond. Perhaps it was only in the Resurrection and Ascension that everything finally made sense—that God would always complete the story in God’s own way.
As his followers, we are not asked to write the script. We are only asked to play our part with faithfulness. So the next time God speaks to your heart to do something in the Church or the community, believe—and let God do the rest.
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From the E-Crier of December 18, 2025. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter.