Today's Gospel gives us a piece of our spiritual family tree. As ancestors of Jesus, the genealogy gives us glimpses into the many and varied people who helped pass faith in God on to their descendants. Whether or not all of the "begats" are historically accurate or not, the point that is made is nonetheless true: we all owe our faith to those who came before us and passed it on.
I have often reflected on the fact that, if it was possible to accurately trace backward the faith that my parents passed on to me, I would eventually be able to find out the one who physically heard the Good News from Jesus Christ Himself! And this is true for each one of us. Somewhere in our past, a person heard the very words of Jesus, and they told someone who told someone who told someone... until my parents told me. How amazing is that!
I think that, as we approach the fourth Sunday of Advent and look forward to celebrating the coming of the Word Made Flesh, it might be a good idea to offer prayers of thanks to all those people who are the reason that we know about Jesus and have faith in Him. And some day we can look forward to meeting each and every one of them, when fulfill our destiny and enter the Kingdom.
Until then, we should also realize that our job is to pass the faith on to others and take our place in the family tree of God. So, whose faith will you "begat" today?
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