Bishop Earl Boyea
Watch the Homily
In this Christmas Eve homily for the Nativity of the Lord, Bishop Earl Boyea reflects on the mystery of the Incarnation and the profound humility of God made flesh. Preached on December 24, 2025, at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, the homily invites the faithful to encounter anew the hope, peace, and saving love revealed in the birth of Christ, calling hearts to receive Him with faith and joy.
Read the Homily
Bishop Earl Boyea:
For a minute there, I thought somebody stole my homily. Not good to steal things on Christmas Eve, is it? We don’t want any naughty people here tonight. All the goodies, okay.
Really, I’m preaching about Joseph today, so probably it’s mostly meant for the dads present. So, moms, you can go to sleep for a little bit.
When my dad was 50 years old, which would have been almost 50 years ago, he had 10 children, the oldest of whom was a priest, and the youngest were twin girls age 10. Five still lived at home, and the rest were off in the world. The thought that occurs to me when I ponder this is that I am certain that Dad, when he married my mother in 1950, had no idea what was in store for him. His fathering over those subsequent 30 years was not of his own creation, but was given to him, and he embraced it.
St. Joseph is called today a righteous man in our Gospel account from St. Matthew. What exactly does that mean? To answer this question, I would like to make a couple of assumptions. First of all, I presume that Joseph found out about Mary’s pregnancy because she told him, and that she told him the truth—that this was God’s doing, that this was God’s Son. Secondly, I presume that Joseph’s righteousness is not a function of his selfishness, but rather of his goodness.
Therefore, to call Joseph a righteous man means that Joseph, knowing that Mary was pregnant and that the child was the Son of the Most High God, also knew that he could not wed Mary and claim that child as his own. For it was God’s child, and he, Joseph, was unworthy to claim to be his father. Joseph’s righteousness meant that he had to drop all claims to Mary and any future progeny with Mary.
When the angel then speaks to Joseph, the angel tells Joseph that God needs Joseph. God needs Joseph to bring this child into the house of David. And God needs Joseph to name this child, to name him Jesus. So Joseph was given a wife, a child, a family that was not his own. And Joseph was told to be the father of this family.
But isn’t this how it really is with every single one of us? We all like to think at times that these families are ours, but really they are gifts to us. We were gifts from God to our parents, and any children will be also gifts to us. What is given to us may not have been in our wildest imaginations. But why should we be surprised by the various turns of events?
Joseph models for us the kind of parents we are all to be. He sacrificed any dreams he may have had, any plans for the kind of family he may have wanted, in order to be the father God wanted him to be. His whole self was sacrificed to Mary and Jesus. This is the role of every parent. We are to pour ourselves out to bring about God’s dreams and plans, and not our own.
And this is no small thing, as you well know. God entrusted to Joseph the entire mystery of salvation. Is not that mystery far greater than any of our own human dreams? That mystery penetrates all of us. God’s will and plan are not something any earthly parent can predict or control. Most of the time, we can only look on in awe at what God does to those entrusted to us—how God makes them holy. Sometimes, in spite of ourselves, to be a good parent, all any of us can do is allow God his way and to give ourselves over completely to his will.
Joseph also models parenting for us in that he is a man of action. When Joseph awoke from his dream, we are told, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him. He did. Joseph was one who acts. This would have been one of the primary ways that Joseph would have taught Jesus—by acting, by doing, especially by acting upon the will of God.
So, we teach those in our charge to be persons whose words bear fruit in action, because we are willing to do what is required of us, no matter the cost to ourselves.
Joseph is finally a model for us of parenting because he does name the lad. He names him, true enough, with the name he received from the angel: Jesus. Joseph is needed to do this naming. Joseph does not accept the angel’s request to take Mary as his wife and to fulfill his role with tired resignation or sadness. Rather, he’s given this task, and he will do it. He will name, he will teach, he will guide, he will protect—always aware that this child and this wife are given to him. They are not his.
No one of us grudgingly accepts the family given to us. Rather, we embrace that family with our all, knowing not how it will turn out, knowing it is not ours, but God’s.
My brothers and sisters, let us all imitate Joseph—open to God’s will in our lives and embracing that will with all that we are.
God bless you all.