At some point in the future, someone or something in the Catholic Church will hurt or disappoint us: A Catholic we know will offend us; or the pope, a bishop, or priest will say something with which we disagree, and we may never come back.

This is a normal temptation through which we all have to go.  I’ve warned many of you and others over the years: Your love for Jesus is strong, but it has to mature.  The devil will tempt us away from Jesus by separating us from the Church, so be careful.  Many of us have already made it through this test, and today is a perfect time to prepare ourselves for it, since it’s a beautiful season of Advent, and seemingly, many things in the Church look good.  If your life is going well, spiritually you’re ‘good,’ and you even love St. Anthony’s, I guess you’ll be tempted within three years.  Now is the time when God the Father wants to strengthen all of us, so that our love for Jesus will be rock solid for life!

In the Gospel today, there are three possible reasons why St. Joseph is tempted to leave his wife, our mother, Mary; and these three reasons are similar to three temptations to leave the Church.  The Gospel says, “The birth of Jesus the Christ took place in this way.  When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.  Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly” (Mt 1:18-19).

The first possible reason why he plans to divorce her is suggested by Sts. Justin Martyr, Augustine, and John Chrysostom, and it’s now called the Suspicion theory: St. Joseph believes that Mary committed adultery so he plans to divorce her according to Old Testament regulations.

The second possible reason, suggested by St. Jerome, is called the Perplexity theory: St. Joseph can’t believe that Mary would actually commit adultery, but, at the same time, he can’t explain how she could be pregnant, so he still plans to separate himself from her.

The third possible reason is supported by Sts. Bernard and Thomas Aquinas, called the Reverence theory: St. Joseph knew that Mary’s child was conceived by God Himself, so he feels totally unworthy to be the human father of this child, therefore he withdraws from the marriage.

The reason we’re meditating on this holy event in connection to being tempted away from the Church is because Mary is an image of the Church.  In Catholic theology, there are so many parallels between the two: Mary gives birth to Jesus’ physical body, while the Church gives birth to Jesus’ Eucharistic body.  This is why the Church is feminine and we refer to the Church as ‘she.’  Just as we all come to life in the womb of our mothers, so people come to eternal life when they’re baptized in a physical church.

This is good news: now we understand the enemy’s tactics.  When people separate themselves from Mary, they lose Jesus.  When we’re tempted away from the Church, we’re tempted away from Jesus, because the Catholic Church isn’t just an institution, but Jesus’ physical body on earth.  St. Paul says, “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  He is the head of the body, the Church” (Col 1:17-18).  And there are many other verses teaching the same concept.

The devil knows this, and we know it practically: When someone leaves the Church, they never start reading the Bible more, they don’t fast more, or study the saints, go to adoration, or evangelize.

The suspicion theory of the Church sounds like this: Catholics do so many bad things and have done so many bad things throughout history that I shouldn’t be Catholic anymore.

The perplexity theory of the Church is, for example: Why does Jesus teach no divorce?  I don’t get it.  Ugh!  Looking at someone lustfully is a sin!?  C’mon, I can look at the menu without ordering, right?

And the reverence theory is when we get deflated by the Church’s high moral standards.  Never lying?  I can’t do it.  I keep on falling.

The solution to these temptations is to focus on Jesus, then on the virtues of humility, and obedience to God: “But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins’” (Mt 1:20-21).  We could read these words this way: Do not be afraid to take the Church as your mother, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  This holy Church, which is also full of sinners and hypocrites, still brings Jesus to earth in a physical way.  Where else do we find Jesus’ body, blood, soul and divinity?  We don’t find Jesus Christ’s humanity in a forest or during a sunset, but only in a church.

This requires humility, because we have to let go of our pride, doing things the way we want to.  According to one study of Catholics, when disciples disagree with a Church teaching, they have a position of humility: “Why does the Church teach what she teaches?  It is unlikely that I know better than two thousand years of the best Catholic theologians and philosophers.  What am I missing?”  When non-disciples disagree, they tend to approach it in this manner: “The Church is wrong.  The Church needs to get with the times.  The Church doesn’t understand me.  I know better than two thousand years of the best Catholic minds” (Matthew Kelly, The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic, 20-21).  It also requires humility to let go of our anger and resentment.  If we’ve been hurt by Catholics, we need to ask for healing and the ability to forgive.

Now, of course, it’s a virtue to criticize the bad things in the Church, but, all the saints who did this always stayed in the Church and never left.  And ultimately, staying in the Church is for our own good.  In spite of her flaws, she’s still Jesus’ Body, still teaches the Good News, and points us in the right direction.

“When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife” (Mt 1:24).  We only stay in the Church because we love and obey God.  He created the Church, so we accept her.  The Church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.  All the apostles abandoned Jesus during His suffering.  There’s no perfect church; if you think you found a perfect church, go join it, it won’t be perfect anymore.

If we focus on Jesus, and make the decision to stay close to the Church for life, then the temptation, when it comes, will never hurt us.

And tonight, we have our penitential service, where we receive Jesus’ forgiveness through the Church.  Stay close to her, because the Person she conceives is from the Holy Spirit.