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Being a parent is hard! I don’t know about other parents, but I felt a lot of “dad fear” the moment the hospital released us after our daughter was born. I remember thinking to myself, Are you sure you want to let us go home? I don’t know if I know what to do, and it’s really nice just having a nurse here to guide us when we need it. In light of that constant struggle to be a good parent, we might experience today’s feast of the Holy Family with some discouragement. With everything we may struggle with in our families, we may feel like we will never be good enough, like the Holy Family. On the other hand, we can instead be encouraged by the example of the Holy Family. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph can give us hope that we, too, can attain the eternal rewards we long for, even as we live in a broken world.

On this Fourth Sunday of Advent we hear about the first of three dreams that St. Joseph had which encouraged him to cooperate with God’s plan. It was a dream coming true in a most surprising way. Prophesies of old had foretold that God would send a Messiah from the house of David. This Messiah-King would re-gather the tribes of Israel, lead them in conquering their enemies, and reestablish the kingdom of Israel. The Scriptures often refer to the kings of Israel as shepherds. Since some of them were not good shepherds, God promised to come and shepherd them himself; that is, to be their king.

A few days ago, I looked up the definition of the word “focus.” When used as a verb, focus means to direct one’s attention or efforts toward someone or something specific. So, what happens we don’t focus? It can negatively impact our lives, lead to poor decision-making and cause a general sense of confusion. Have you felt overwhelmed lately? Do you feel exhausted? Have you lost focus?

“Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” These words from John the Baptist are harsh words to hear during this season that has become a season of lights, shopping, and peppermint mochas. We might even question why the Church has this Gospel during the Advent season, or think surely this Gospel is meant for people that are coming back to Church for Christmas. But it is precisely that it is Advent that we need this Gospel, as this early part of Advent is meant to prepare us not for Christmas but for the second coming of Jesus, and we the people that are here every week need to hear that the Lord expects us to “Produce good fruit as evidence of [our] repentance” We are then left with the question, how do I produce good fruit?