Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

December 21, 2025

I recently read that the great inventor Thomas Edison discouraged his friend, Henry Ford, from pursuing his fledgling idea of a motorcar. Convinced of the worthlessness of the project, Edison invited Ford to come and work for him. Thankfully, Ford remained committed to his idea and tirelessly pursued his dream. Although his first attempt resulted in a vehicle without a reverse gear, Ford knew he could make it happen. And, eventually, he did.

“Forget it,” the experts advised Madame Marie Curie. They agreed that radium could not exist. However, Marie Curie insisted, “I know radium is a real element. I can make it happen.” And that she did.

Let’s not forget the Wright Brothers either. Journalists, friends, specialists, and even their father laughed at the folly of their idea for an airplane. “What a silly and insane way to waste money,” Orville and Wilbur were told. Others jeered, “Leave flying to the birds.” “Sorry,” the brothers replied, “We have a dream, and we can make it happen.” As a result, a place named Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, became the setting for the launching of their “ridiculous” idea.

Finally, consider the plight of Benjamin Franklin the next time you marvel at the modern conveniences we take for granted—television, computers, air conditioning, stereos, blenders, etc., all of which work simply by plugging them into a wall outlet. He was admonished to stop his foolish experiments with lightning. What an absurd waste of time! Why, nothing could outdo the oil lamp. Thank goodness, Franklin knew he could make electricity happen.

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In today’s gospel we learn that God communicates with Joseph through a dream. It was the dream of a miraculous birth: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.” On the face of it, Joseph could have blamed this dream on some bad fish he had eaten the night before. He could have refused to believe that it was God making this strange request. Things just don’t work that way….Or do they?

With Christmas just a few days away, we have two people on their way to Bethlehem with rather strange dreams. Mary and Joseph were both asked to believe in the seemingly impossible: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son…” Neither Joseph nor Mary were forced into it. Mary had to say yes to the angel and Joseph had to follow a message he received while he slept.

But we also have another dream expressed in this story, in this case, God’s dream: The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and “they shall name him Emmanuel, which means God is with us.”

There’s the really incredible dream of the Christmas story: God dreams of wanting to be with us, of accompanying us throughout our lives. And it doesn’t mean that life will be totally easy. Just think of what Mary and Joseph had to go through. Joseph has to lead his pregnant wife, riding on a donkey, on a hundred- mile trip to fulfill the requirements of a census. Then, when they learn that King Herod wants to kill the child, they are forced to become immigrants by fleeing to Egypt.

Joseph and Mary had an incredible faith, a remarkable trust. Today’s gospel ends with the simple statement, “When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.” And so, the drama begins.

God has a dream of wanting to be with us: that’s what Christmas is all about. God didn’t make his presence easy; it all started in a manger, in the dark, in the cold, in poverty. It seems that God wanted to be especially near to those who needed him the most.

The question to ponder in these remaining days of Advent is: While God wants to be with us, do we want to be with God? Do we want to share in God’s dream of a world ruled by love rather than hate, of compassion rather than cruelty, of generosity rather than selfishness, of welcome rather than exclusion? Christmas will come, to be sure. The question is, do we want to live it?