of the Holy Spirit, and that the baby to be born will be the Saviour (cf. vv. 20-21). Mary will be the Mother of the Messiah, and he will be His guardian. On waking up, Joseph understands that the greatest dream of every devout Israelite — to be the father of the Messiah — is being fulfilled for him in a completely unexpected way. Indeed, in order to fulfil this, it would not be enough to belong to David’s lineage and be a faithful observer of the law, but he will have to entrust himself above and beyond all else to God, welcome Mary and her son in a completely different way than he had expected, different from the way things had always been done. In other words, Joseph will have to renounce all reassuring certainties, his perfect plans, his legitimate expectations, and open himself to a future that was completely to be discovered. And before God, who disrupts his plans and asks that he trust Him, Joseph says “yes”. Joseph’s courage is heroic and is exercised in silence — his courage is to trust, he welcomes, he is willing, he asks for no further guarantees. Brothers and sisters, what does Joseph say to us today? We too have our dreams, and perhaps we think of them more, we talk about them together at Christmas. Perhaps we long for some dreams that were shattered and we see that our best expectations have to face with the unexpected, disconcerting situations. And when this happens, Joseph shows us the way. We should not give in to negative feelings, like anger or isolation — this is the wrong way! Instead, we have to attentively welcome surprises, life’s surprises, even the crises. When we find ourselves in crisis, we should not make decisions quickly and instinctively, but rather sift through them like Joseph did, who “considered everything” (cf. v. 20), and base ourselves on the underlying criterium: God’s mercy. When one experiences a crisis without giving in to isolation, anger, and fear, but keeping the door open to God, He can intervene. He is an expert in transforming crises into dreams — yes, God opens crises into new horizons we never would have imagined before, perhaps not as we would expect, but in the way he knows how. And these, brothers and sisters, are God’s horizons — surprising — but infinitely broader and more beautiful than ours! May the Virgin Mary help us live open to God’s surprises. Picture of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV from Welcome, Pope Leo XIV from marian.org: https://marian.org/articles/welcome-pope-leo-xiv Quote from Angelus Address given by His Holiness Pope Leo XIV December 14, 2025: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/angelus/2025/documents/20251214-angelus.html Crest of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV: https://www.vatican.va/content/vatican/en.html Angelus Address given by Pope Francis on December 18, 2022 https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/angelus/2022/documents/20221218-angelus.html Picture of Pope Francis from Pope Francis, rest in peace : https://www.facebook.com/DivineMercyOfficial/photos/may-the-soul-of-pope-francis-rest-in-peace/1070714418415285/
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