Fourth Sunday in Advent 2025

For two years in the three-year cycle of Sunday Readings, on the Fourth Sunday of Advent the Gospel Reading is taken from the first chapter of Luke. In Year B we read of the angel Gabriel coming to Mary and announcing to her that she was about to conceive a son in her womb who was the Son of the Most High. And then in Year C we read of Mary’s visitation to her relative Elizabeth who was in her sixth month of pregnancy and of Mary’s response to all this wonder with the song we have come to know as the Magnificat, for it starts out with Mary saying, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” But this year alone, Year A, the reading is from the first chapter of Matthew. In this account Joseph is the key supporting actor in the story. And you may notice that Joseph is never given a line to speak. But his actions do speak loudly!