Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Matthew 1: 18-24
December  21, 2025 | Sunday

Today’s Gospel

This is how Jesus Christ was born: Mary his mother had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to disgrace her.

While he was pondering over this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a son. You shall call him‘Jesus’ for he will save his people from their sins.”

All this happened in order to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and he will be called Emmanuel, which means: God-with us. When Joseph awoke, he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do, and he took his wife to his home.

Today’s Reflection

The Gospel tells us that Jesus is also known as Emmanuel—a transliteration of the Hebraic phrase ונמע

לא (Isaiah 7:14)—which means “God is with us” (Mt 1:23). Emmanuel is not just any other name. The name not only assures us of God’s enduring presence but also teaches us a profound lesson on how to live out the Gospel.

This lesson is intimated in the combination of the preposition“with” and the pronoun“us” in contrast to the combination of the preposition “for” and the pronoun “me.” On that note, the name Emmanuel is neither “God is FOR us” nor “God is with ME,” but it is “GOD IS WITH US.”

What, then, is the significance of this name? Firstly, “God with us” clarifies that Jesus journeys with us, sharing our joys and sorrows. Jesus is with us, helping us solve our problems. But in no way does he solve our problems for us. Jesus invites us to work with him in solving our problems. Secondly, the fact that “God is with us” reminds us of Jesus’ teaching that God reveals himself in the community: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20). Coming together in the Lord’s name entails that we should take care of each other—that we should help carry each other’s burden. Conversely, the fact that the name does not mean that “God is with me” somehow warns us of our tendency to be concerned only with ourselves—to be indifferent to the needs of others. That we may overcome this tendency, the Pope exhorts us to get out of our comfort zones and into the peripheries or reach out to the poor and the oppressed.

During our immediate preparation for Christmas, may we truly experience the Lord Jesus as “God with us.” Getting more concerned with others and becoming less concerned with advancing our self-interests is a good indicator of an experience of the Messiah as Emmanuel.

/Vulnerasti, 2025