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Meditation: Genesis 41:55-57; 42:5-7, 17-24

14th Week in Ordinary Time

All the world came to Joseph. (Genesis 41:57)

If anyone had reason to break ties with his family and his God, Joseph did. Sold into slavery by his own brothers, Joseph found himself in a foreign country. Yet look at his faithfulness! In each new position—slave, prison inmate, then administrator—Joseph looked to God for wisdom and for strength to serve. He resisted temptations that cropped up at every turn. In the end, Joseph proved himself to his brothers by lavishing mercy on them. It’s a pretty safe guess that God delighted in Joseph’s faithfulness!

But at its heart, the story of Joseph is really a story of God’s faithfulness. After all, it was God who blessed all that Joseph did and gave him the remarkable spiritual insights that caught Pharaoh’s eye. In his own timing, God raised Joseph to the world’s stage, as we see in today’s first reading. And you could say that God was even faithful to his miscreant brothers who sold him into slavery. He saved them from famine and brought them into fertile Goshen.

So what does this mean for you today? Well, for one, it means that God honors your faithfulness too. He sees your devotion in praying and serving and loving. He hears your prayers. He remembers you. He considers your sacrifices, even the small ones that you think go unnoticed. Even when you’re not faithful to him, because we all make mistakes, he remains true to you.

It also means that today, he is working behind the scenes. He’s using your faithfulness to do more than you can probably imagine. When you feel imprisoned by guilt, fear, or resentment, he is at work, forging a way out for you. When you feel unable to forgive someone who has wronged you, he is at work, finding ways to help you soften your heart. Just as he worked through Joseph’s challenging situations, even when it seemed hopeless, your faithful Father is working in you. So hang in there! Try your best to be faithful, and trust that he will raise you up in his own time and in his own way. Always remember that God loves writing long tales of faithfulness.

“Lord, your faithfulness stretches to the heavens! Thank you that your gaze of love is on me today.”

Psalm 33:2-3, 10-11, 18-19
Matthew 10:1-7

Homily of the Day

July 8, 2015

In today’s Gospel reading we see Jesus missioning the twelve apostles and empowering them to subdue evil spirits and to heal physical sickness and diseases. The names of the chosen Twelve are given, starting with Simon Peter.

We see that Jesus’ choice and selection of the Twelve are so different from our common and established criteria for choosing leaders and followers as we have today. We had seen how Jesus called his close followers: fishermen, a tax collector, common folk. The gospels do not tell us what formal schooling they had nor did Jesus ask about their formal schooling. He called them and they generously answered his call.

Their schooling was being with Jesus, listening and hearing him, seeing him and watching him work miracles and cures, teach and talk with the people.

Their mission: to proclaim that “the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” At the end of his earthly life, at his return to his Father in heaven, Jesus missioned his disciples to “go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all creation,” to “go and make disciples from all nations and to baptize them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teach them to fulfill all that I have commanded.”

Pope Francis has declared 2014 as the Year of the Laity. The same mandate given to the Twelve as given in today’s Gospel reading and at his ascension to heaven is also given to all his followers, to each and every one of us: “to proclaim the Good News to all creation.”

Do we see and understand this mission given to each one of us? How have we lived out the Gospel message? How have we shared with others our understanding and living out of the Good News?