Homily for the Mass of the 4th Sunday of Advent: “Without the Church, we do not have Jesus”

Sunday 14 December 2025
4rd Sunday of Advent – ​​Year A

Homily by Father Emmanuel Schwab

1^st reading: Isaiah 7, 10-16
Psalm 23 (24), 1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
2^rd reading: Romans 1,1:7-XNUMX
Gospel: Matthew 1,18-24

In this final preparation for Christmas, the Church invites us to journey with the figure of Joseph, about whom we know very little. We know that he is a descendant of David, and we have this Gospel. We will also encounter him again, though without hearing any of his words, at the birth of Jesus, of course, and then when Jesus is 12 years old and remains in the Temple while his parents return to Nazareth. 

We know that he is a righteous man and we must understand this righteousness of Joseph as the fact that he is in accord with God, that he seeks to do God's will, that he seeks to live in communion with God. 

He does not seek to do his own will, but what God wills, for that is what is right. Precisely because he is right, he wants to withdraw from a matter that is beyond his control. There is no doubt in Joseph's heart about Mary's integrity, therefore there must be something greater that he does not understand. 

He wants to withdraw. And the Lord comes to find him in this strange form of a dream, in the middle of the night: “Do not be afraid… do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him: he took Mary home as his wife.”

In order for Joseph to welcome Jesus, he must welcome Mary because The child conceived in her comes from the Holy Spirit.And the one she gives birth to is the Savior—that is what his name means. YeshuaGod saves. So it is with us: to truly welcome Jesus, we must, like Joseph, welcome the bride. To welcome the bride is first and foremost to welcome the Virgin Mary, to welcome her as a mother given to us, to welcome her as one who allowed herself to be entirely shaped by the Lord. We remember her response to the angel at the Annunciation: "Let it be done to me according to your word" (Lk 1,38:12). Welcoming the one who will experience what could be called the martyrdom of faith. Mary, the most pure, suffered all her life, seeing sin at work around her, seeing hearts wounded by sin. Mary suffered from not understanding what Jesus was doing. We have a testimony of this when Jesus remained in the Temple at the age of twelve, but we have an even greater testimony when the words of the Annunciation are as if torn apart at the foot of the Cross; they no longer have any meaning. 

And throughout her life, Mary, who follows Jesus, doesn't understand everything: this is the suffering of faith. And Mary teaches us to persevere in this suffering.

But taking Mary into your home, taking the bride into your home, is also taking the Church into your home. Without the Church, you do not have Jesus. 

Perhaps you're thinking: but when I pray, I don't need the Church, I have direct contact with Jesus. — Yes, but how do you know Jesus? 

— I'll take the Gospels… — Who gave you the Gospels? 

— Yes, but since my baptism… — Who gave you baptism? 

Without the Church, we do not have Jesus. 

It is she who reveals the Savior to us. It is she who gives us the Holy Scriptures. It is she who celebrates the sacraments received from the Lord. It is she who brings Jesus into the world. And each of us, the baptized, participates in this birth. Who is my mother, who are my brothers? My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice. who put it into practice" (Lk 8:18-21) — and the Greek verb is truly the verb help : to do the word of God. 

If I seek to do the word of God, I become the mother of Christ, I give birth to Christ. "Take the bride home to welcome the savior." This is what Joseph, the righteous man, did… this is what we too must do as we prepare to celebrate Christmas. We prepare ourselves to welcome the Savior anew. 

Year after year, the liturgical cycle leads us to a deeper understanding of the mystery of Christ. It is not an endless cycle of repetition, but rather a continuous process of deepening. Each year, we are invited to welcome the Savior more fully into our lives. How will we prepare ourselves? How will we arrange the Feast of the Nativity on December 25th so that there is time in our day for prayer, time to contemplate the mystery of Christmas, which we undoubtedly seek to evoke in our homes with nativity scenes? But it is not enough to have a nativity scene on a piece of furniture in our home or at the foot of the tree; there must also be a nativity scene within us, so that Mary may anew place the Savior within us.

Let us ask Saint Joseph to help us build this inner manger to welcome Mary and for Mary to place Christ within us. Let us take the time to build our Christmas Day so that there may be a true time of prayer and intimacy with Jesus. 

It would be a great shame to arrive at Christmas Eve and realize that we have experienced many things, but that the Lord was absent…

Amen.