30 December 2026 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
After Herod's death an angel tells Joseph in a dream to return with the child and his mother to the land of Israel. Fearing Herod's son Archelaus, he settles in Galilee, in Nazareth, “so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean.’” Like Israel, the child is called out of Egypt; like a hidden shoot, he grows up in an obscure village. Joseph's quiet obedience protects the life of the Saviour.
Paul tells Jews and Gentiles in Rome: “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” Christ became a servant to Israel to confirm the promises, and the Gentiles glorify God for his mercy; Isaiah's “root of Jesse” rises to rule the nations, “in him the Gentiles shall hope.” At the end of the year, Paul's blessing is perfect: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.”
Theme: “The God of hope.”
Welcome, obedience and hope at the year's end.
“The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself,” Leviticus 19:34
“Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” Romans 15:7
Apply: Welcome a newcomer in your parish or neighbourhood.
“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” Hosea 11:1
“There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”” Matthew 2:23
Apply: Do one duty promptly today, like Joseph.
“On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him,” Isaiah 11:10
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
Apply: Name three reasons for hope as the year ends.
God keeps his promises in hidden ways.
Let us end the year in hope.
Take-home resolution: Begin the new year with a resolution of welcome.
Dear friends, St Paul tells the Romans: welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God (Romans 15:7). Christ welcomed us when we were far from him. We are called to welcome others the same way.
Paul gathers several Scriptures to show that Christ came for the Gentiles as well as for Israel, and ends with Isaiah: the root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope. Then he prays: may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:12–13).
In the Gospel, after Herod's death, an angel tells Joseph in a dream to return to the land of Israel. But fearing Herod's son, Joseph is warned again and goes to Galilee, settling in a town called Nazareth (Matthew 2:19–23).
The Holy Family's life was not settled. Exile in Egypt, return, fear, another change of plan. Joseph had to listen to God again and again. Yet in all this, the family stayed together and the Child grew.
Many of our families live like this: moving for work, uncertain futures, plans that change. The God of hope walks with us. He led Joseph step by step, and he leads us.
As the year ends, let us welcome one another as Christ welcomed us, especially those far from home. And let us ask the God of hope to fill us with joy and peace for the year to come. Amen.
Children, Jesus grew up in a small town called Nazareth with Mary and Joseph. Thank God for your family and your home!
God of hope, you brought your Son out of Egypt and hid him in Nazareth. Fill us with joy and peace in believing, teach us to welcome one another as Christ welcomed us, and make us abound in hope by the power of your Spirit. Amen.
Paul asks a divided community to welcome one another, because Christ came to confirm God's promises to Israel and to bring the nations to praise. He ends with “the root of Jesse” from Isaiah. The Gospel takes the Holy Family back from Egypt to an unknown village, where the promised one will be called a Nazorean. Both readings show God keeping his word in unexpected ways.
Setting.
Paul wrote to the Christians of Rome in the later 50s, probably from Corinth. He did not found that Church. It seems to have had believers of both Jewish and Gentile background, who differed about food and holy days. Chapters 14 and 15 address this tension, speaking of the “weak” and the “strong”. Today's passage draws it together: both groups are one in Christ, and Scripture has always foreseen it.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (15:7)
The welcome is measured by Christ's welcome, not by how much we like one another.
“The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.” (15:12)
Paul's chain of texts draws on the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms: all of Scripture is singing the same song.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (15:13)
Hope, in Paul, is not an optimistic temperament. It comes from God, and it grows in believing.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes this blessing as the prayer of hope (CCC 2657) and describes hope as the virtue by which we rely not on our own strength but on the help of the Holy Spirit (CCC 1817). The welcome Paul asks for marks the Church, which is one people gathered from all nations (CCC 831).
Setting.
Herod the Great died about 4 BC, and Augustus divided his kingdom among his sons. Archelaus received Judea. According to Josephus, he began his reign with a harsh crackdown at Passover in which many died, and he was finally deposed and banished in AD 6. Herod Antipas received Galilee. So Joseph's fear was reasonable. Nazareth was a small village, not mentioned in the Old Testament, in a region that Judeans did not much regard (compare John 1:46).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” (2:20)
This echoes God's word to Moses: “all those who were seeking your life are dead” (Exodus 4:19). Matthew shows Jesus reliving Israel's story and the story of Moses.
“Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel.” (2:21)
Joseph says nothing in this Gospel. He is told and he does, in almost the same words.
“There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”” (2:23)
No Old Testament verse has these exact words. The Greek says “through the prophets”, in the plural (the POC has the singular), which suggests a general sense of prophecy and not one text. St Jerome draws this very conclusion: Matthew takes the sense of the Scriptures and not their words (in substance).
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism sees in the return from Egypt the Exodus story, with Jesus as the definitive liberator (CCC 530), and it treats the years at Nazareth as Jesus' sharing in the daily life of most people (CCC 531–533). Pope Francis, in Patris Corde 3, draws from Joseph's dreams the portrait of an obedient father, who at each step does as he is told.