Homily for Thursday, Week 14 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Thursday
14th Week of Ordinary Time

July 10, 2025
Gen 44: 18-29; 45: 1-5
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

Joseph selling grain in Egypt
(Bartholomeus Breenbergh)

“It was really for the sake of saving lives that God sent me here ahead of you” (Gen 45: 5).

The few passages in the lectionary this week hardly do justice to Joseph’s dramatic story.  We can be sure that he suffered greatly when he was betrayed by his brothers, when he was enslaved, when he was cast into prison on a false charge, when he was forgotten by a released fellow prisoner, when he wondered for years about his father’s well-being.  Only at the end of the story can he see how God has turned so much tragedy into salvation.

So it is for the saints.  John Bosco wasn’t 2 years old when his father suddenly fell ill and died.  Growing up fatherless was part of his inspiration to become a father to countless boys at risk on the streets of Turin, enabling him to carry out God’s work.  If Edmund Rice hadn’t tragically lost his young wife, would he have been inspired to found a religious family for the benefit of countless young people in need around the world?

When we review our lives, we may see some drama and loss; or perhaps only years of humdrum teaching or frustrating administration—surely not as much drama and tragedy as Joseph, John, or Edmund met.  Can we see God’s hand working, nonetheless, in our weaknesses, failures, and frustrations, or working in spite of them?  In our losses or the injustices we may have felt?  Even in our sins, i.e., in surmounting them or working around them?

“Remember the marvels the Lord has done” (psalm response).  Look for what God has done in your life and marvel at it.  Give him thanks.