Faith and expectation fill today's Scripture. The faithful expectation is a central Advent theme. In Jeremiah and Joseph, we have persons of great faith; faith in their God amid the circumstances they found themselves in. They are great examples for us as we confront the circumstances of our individual lives, our life as a nation or as a global community. We all need a bit of Advent's faithful expectation.

Jeremiah waited for the coming of the Messiah. As a prophet of covenant faith, he believed the God of Hebrew Scripture would deliver on his promise of sending the Messiah. But the people must wait for that advent of God in their midst. Jeremiah tells us with great certainty that the Lord has proclaimed that, "The days are coming when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land." Coming, yes, but when? Jeremiah and the people must wait in expectant faith.

Joseph, too, must wait in expectant faith. Having been told by the angel that his wife-to-be was "with child by the power of the Holy Spirit", Joseph accepted that news as a person of faith. He did as the angel commanded. He and Mary then waited for the birth of a son, and he called him 'Jesus'. Joseph waited in faithful expectancy as this divine intervention came to fruition.

These readings convey the necessity of waiting for God to fulfil the divine plan. We wait to be born, to grow, to graduate, to be touched by love. We wait to die. Through these life passages, we wait for the touch of God in our life.