Turn towards the Lord with joyful heart

Gen. 49:2.8-10, Mt. 1:1-17. On this day we begin the seven days period before Christmas, with the special liturgical readings to direct our attention to infant Jesus. It began therefore with the account of Jacob blessing his sons in today's first reading, with a special blessing to Judah, through whom eventually the Messiah would come into this world. While today's Gospel account opens with the genealogy, an ingenious reconstruction, based on a close reading of the Old Testament, to situate Jesus four-square at the heart of Israel’s lineage. That it is an artistic, literary construct rather than a soberly factual genealogy, it is strongly hinted by dividing the list of the ancestors of Jesus neatly into three sets of fourteen generations; one set, from the Founding Father, Abraham, to the heights of royal splendour, David, a man after God’s heart. The Gospel mentions some surprising women who were unexpectedly incorporated into the Messiah’s lineage: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and the wife of Uriah, Bathsheba.

It was out of the imperfect succession of people that God brought the Saviour of the world. There is still hope for us, despite the scandals that have defaced our world. The Lord continues to bring good out of human failure and imperfection. We need to trust that the Lord is always at work, even in situations that seem on the surface to be hopeless. With God there is always hope, as we turn ourselves away from the meaninglessness and futility of the worldly pursuits of glory, happiness and satisfaction in all the sorts of things that the world has always promoted. Instead, let us all turn towards the Lord with all of our heart and love Him from now on with all of our strength.

May the Lord be with us and guide us through this journey of faith, that Christmas will truly be a blessed celebration of God’s love for us! Good morning and have a glorious day!!!