Scripture Reading (Matthew 1:18-25)
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph but before
they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph,
being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had
made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son
of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the
Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save
his people from their sins.”
Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, a name which means “God-is-with-us.”
When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home
and, though he had not had intercourse with her, she gave birth to a son; and he named him Jesus