Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
I know an older woman who was estranged from her only sibling, her brother, for many years. I’m not sure exactly the cause of the rift between them, but they stopped speaking at some point in their adult years and allowed the distance to remain for 10 years or more until the brother was diagnosed with a form of cancer that would take his life. With the knowledge of his poor prognosis, he reached out to his sister for the first time in a very long time and she responded with compassion and love. They both let go of their stubborn pride and bitter hurts to be reconciled to one another in the last couple of years of his life. He suffered a lot with the cancer, but it seems to me that God was able to use the “bad” of cancer to open the hearts of both he and his sister to reconciliation and their deeper ties of love. They, in turn, cooperated with God’s plan in their willingness to forgive each other and be reconciled.
I do believe that God can and does bring good out of bad. Today’s first reading from Genesis 44 demonstrates this sort of transformation. This reading is a continuation of yesterday’s story of Joseph who had been sold into slavery by his jealous brothers without their father’s knowledge. Now lord of Pharaoh’s household and ruler of Egypt with the opportunity to help his father and brothers who are vulnerable to the famine in the land, Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers and tearfully embraces them in an act of heartfelt reconciliation. Joseph releases them of their burden of guilt, proclaiming that God worked through the evil they had done by sending him ahead to Egypt, allowing him to save them all from famine. Joseph cooperated in God’s plan by forgiving his brothers and using his status to treat them as guests of Pharaoh.
Today’s gospel passage (Matthew 10: 7-15) reminds us that we have a choice. As the disciples are sent out on their mission by Jesus they are instructed to wish peace to anyone who accepts them and their words, but to let it return back to them, leave and shake the dust from their sandals if they and their message are rejected. I see this as a reminder that we have peace when we accept Jesus and Jesus’ message of love and forgiveness, and do not have peace when we reject this message.
The choice is ours to accept or reject. Thankfully, we can call upon the Holy Spirit to help us fully accept and cooperate with what God has to offer, remaining open to God’s power to use bad situations for good.
Along with the older woman and her brother, as well as Joseph and his brothers, with today's psalm let us “Remember the marvels the Lord has done.”
- Eileen Miller