Micah 5:1-4; Psalm 12(13):6-7; Matthew 1:1-16,18-23
Matthews genealogy of Christ might seem at first sight somewhat tedious. It comes from a stylised form of writing, and has an artificial balance as the number of generations between Abraham and David, 14 from David to the deportation, and 14 to Mary - conveniently equal! The main points however are that unlike many other genealogies (including others in the Bible) this one is unashamed to include significant women in it, sometimes as wives, and of course with Mary herself. There is also the hugely important point that Joseph was not the father of Jesus at all - but Mary is his Mother.
Today we celebrate as a feast the birth of Mary - who since the 1950's we formerly hold as a dogma of faith, to be immaculate (born without original sin) so that she could be worthy of the highest honour any human every had - to carry the infant Jesus. This matter of faith was widely - practically universal - held and honoured from early christian times.
She is no insignificant 'wife of' a man - she stands on her own merits. And she is the closest any human has or could ever be to the man Jesus - and so we can confidently rely on her intercession when we pray, as in the Hail Mary - not to her, but asking her to pray with us to her precious Son, or Lord.