In our day, many dioceses throughout the United States are making plans for the future in light of what is happening in the Church and in society. There are less people coming to Mass, a declining number of priests, financial challenges, aging buildings, demographic changes, accelerating secularization, an increasing number of people who identify as atheists, agnostics, or “spiritual” but not religious, etc.

 

In the face of these challenges, dioceses are bringing their pastors and people together to evaluate their current situation. More importantly, dioceses are discerning what needs to be done so that the Church can continue to effectively fulfill its vital mission of proclaiming the Gospel and bringing God’s kingdom into this world. With trust and faith in God, dioceses are developing strategies and planning for the future.

 

But if the plans being formulated are to bear fruit, the Church will need the grace of God and the cooperation of its pastors and parishioners. Plans only succeed if people embrace the proposed ideas and cooperate, otherwise plans remain only hopeful words on paper or a computer screen.

 

This is even true when it comes to God’s plan of salvation. That plan involved the Son of God taking on flesh and coming into this world. For that to happen, two people had to cooperate, namely Mary and Joseph.

 

This Sunday’s Gospel (Matthew 1:18-24) for the Fourth Sunday of Advent highlights the cooperation of Joseph. We learn that a divine messenger appeared to Joseph in a dream and asked him to trust in God’s plan. This plan required him believing that Mary, his betrothed, was pregnant by an act of God and not by an act of betrayal. With faith in God, Joseph did what God asked of him. We are told that “when Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.”

 

While Matthew highlights the cooperation of Joseph, Luke in his Gospel (Luke 1:26-38) focuses on Mary’s cooperation with God’s plan for salvation. Luke tells us that the angel Gabriel came to Mary and announced that through the power of the Holy Spirit, she would conceive and give birth to a son, who would be “holy, the Son of God.” Despite her understandable confusion since she had “no relations with a man,” Mary assented to God’s plan: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” 

 

Mary and Joseph cooperated with God. As a result, the first Christmas happened, and Christ the Savior was born.

 

Today, if Christ the Lord is to continue to come into this world though Word and Sacrament, if the message of the Gospel is to continue to be proclaimed, then the Church needs to plan for the future.

 

Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Church needs to plan how it can continue to fulfill its mission and meet the challenges of our day. And just as importantly, we need to be willing to listen and cooperate with the plan being set before us. Like Joseph and Mary, we need to be willing cooperators with God’s ongoing plan of salvation.

 

© 2025 Rev. Thomas Iwanowski

 

Best Wishes for Happy and Holy Christmas Season,

Filled with the Peace and Presence of Christ the Lord.