Jul 7: Every Moment is Blessed

Marc Chagall: Joseph and His Brothers

Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading I: Gen 44:18-21, 23b-29; 45:1-5

Joseph said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life (NRSV, Gen 45:4b-5).”

Father, no moment is so dark, not the selling into slavery of Joseph, or even the crucifixion of Jesus, that it is not the saving moment. You greet us, Father, in every situation, even the darkest, through your Word always present to us who offers us your life and power if only we will accept it. Joseph, rejected by his brothers, provided for their material needs during famine. Jesus, even more, is the great sacrament of salvation. Crucified and rejected by us, resurrected to eternal life, Jesus is the very incarnation, Father, for everyone to experience, of your saving act that is one with your being and that fills all of history.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.