Monday 8 September

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Micah 5: 1-4; Psalm 13; Matt 1: 18-23

Counterculture

The Greek for “fear not” in our Gospel reading can mean “don’t be overcome with awe.” This may be why St Bernard of Clairvaux, St Thomas Aquinas and others claim that Our Lady told St Joseph that she had conceived of the Holy Spirit. Joseph believed her and it was out of reverence for God, for the Blessed Virgin and for the Child she carried, that he wanted to call the marriage off. It took an angel to reassure him that he, too, was part of God’s plan. In an age when reverence and respect seem forgotten let’s be countercultural and imitate St Joseph in deferring to the sacred.