The kingdom of God is close at hand:
repent and believe the Good News. MK 1:15
GENESIS 44:18-21,23-29,45:1-5
My Soul's Beloved,
God, our Father, loves us even more tenderly than Jacob loved his youngest son, Benjamin, born of the woman he loved. He thought he had forever lost his beloved son Joseph, whom he believed to have been eaten by wild animals. How eloquently and passionately Judah speaks when he explains to Joseph how much the youngest son means to his father, and his heart is moved to anguish, loud lamentations, to know that his father is still alive and continues to grieve his loss.
Lord Jesus, God loved us so much that He sent You into exile for our sake so You could make His love known to us and the extent to which He was prepared to save us, misbegotten sinners from eternal death. God laments the loss of the sinner even more than Jacob mourned the loss of his dearest son, Joseph. Poor Jacob could do nothing but carry the dead weight of his loss and grief in his soul. But the Eternal God, Creator of all, could and did do something to bring back His recalcitrant, disobedient, sinful children - He came up with an unbelievable, unfathomable, absolutely incredible plan to rescue us from the jaws of death and hell. He sent You to become the Saving Victim, the Paschal Lamb, the Scapegoat, that would bear the iniquities of the whole world upon Your shoulders. Dying our death, You restored us to life, and now we have hope of eternal glory with God our Father.
Thank You, Lord Jesus, Beloved of my soul, for rescuing not just me but every child of Adam and Eve. Thank You for dying in my place. Thank You for Your life that is now mine. Thank You, Lord, for the Bread of Angels that nourishes me and strengthens me for the journey from this life to the next. Above all, thank You for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, for unless I am washed clean of all my grievous sins, I could not eat the Manna from Heaven. Thank You above all that I am a member of Your Body, the Catholic Church, in her I am certain of salvation through the merits You have won for me over sin and death. Thank You, Lord, for loving me.
Judah went up to Joseph and said, ‘May it please my lord, let your servant have a word privately with my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. My lord questioned his servants, “Have you father or brother?” And we said to my lord, “We have an old father, and a younger brother born of his old age. His brother is dead, so he is the only one left of his mother, and his father loves him.” Then you said to your servants, “Bring him down to me that my eyes may look on him.” But you said to your servants, “If your youngest brother does not come down with you, you will not be admitted to my presence again.” When we went back to your servant my father, we repeated to him what my lord had said. So when our father said, “Go back and buy us a little food,” we said, “We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, we will go down, for we cannot be admitted to the man’s presence unless our youngest brother is with us.” So your servant our father said to us, “You know that my wife bore me two children. When one left me, I said that he must have been torn to pieces. And I have not seen him to this day. If you take this one from me too and any harm comes to him, you will send me down to Sheol with my white head bowed in misery.” If I go to your servant my father now, and we have not the boy with us, he will die as soon as he sees the boy is not with us, for his heart is bound up with him. Then your servants will have sent your servant our father down to Sheol with his white head bowed in grief.’
Then Joseph could not control his feelings in front of all his retainers, and he exclaimed, ‘Let everyone leave me.’ No one therefore was present with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers, but he wept so loudly that all the Egyptians heard, and the news reached Pharaoh’s palace.
Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph. Is my father really still alive?’ His brothers could not answer him, they were so dismayed at the sight of him. Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come closer to me.’ When they had come closer to him he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not grieve, do not reproach yourselves for having sold me here, since God sent me before you to preserve your lives.’
PSALM 104(105):16-21
Remember the wonders the Lord has done.
The Lord called down a famine on the land;
he broke the staff that supported them.
He had sent a man before them,
Joseph, sold as a slave.
His feet were put in chains,
his neck was bound with iron,
until what he said came to pass
and the word of the Lord proved him true.
Then the king sent and released him
the ruler of the people set him free,
making him master of his house
and ruler of all he possessed.
Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph. Is my father really still alive?’ His brothers could not answer him, they were so dismayed at the sight of him. Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come closer to me.’ When they had come closer to him he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not grieve, do not reproach yourselves for having sold me here, since God sent me before you to preserve your lives.’
PSALM 104(105):16-21
Remember the wonders the Lord has done.
The Lord called down a famine on the land;
he broke the staff that supported them.
He had sent a man before them,
Joseph, sold as a slave.
His feet were put in chains,
his neck was bound with iron,
until what he said came to pass
and the word of the Lord proved him true.
Then the king sent and released him
the ruler of the people set him free,
making him master of his house
and ruler of all he possessed.
Remember the wonders the Lord has done.
MATTHEW 10:7-15
My Soul's Beloved,
My Soul's Beloved,
We are Your ambassadors, and sadly, more often than not, we are very poor ones. We take for granted the wondrous gift of faith we have received through no merit of our own, and along with this glorious faith, we have been given the full measure of God's goodness in the Catholic Church, for here we receive the fullness of His Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. The Church is Your visible sign on earth that You remain with us through St. Peter, the Apostles, and their successors through the ages. It will be so until the end of time, and we have the guarantee of the Eternal Word of the Living God that the gates of hell shall never prevail against her.
In this Church, Your Bride, whose members make up Your Body, are given authority and power at our Baptism to do the works that You had done. You have assured us that we will do even greater works because of the Holy Spirit whom You have sent and who lives with us, empowering us. Let us go forth with this confidence, Lord, and with faith as we do the works of mercy that love commands us to do.
Grant us the grace to support the Church, its Bishops and priests, its religious sisters and brothers, contributing generously as they preach, teach, and witness to the Gospel with their lives.
Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: ‘As you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. You received without charge, give without charge. Provide yourselves with no gold or silver, not even with a few coppers for your purses, with no haversack for the journey or spare tunic or footwear or a staff, for the workman deserves his keep.
‘Whatever town or village you go into, ask for someone trustworthy and stay with him until you leave. As you enter his house, salute it, and if the house deserves it, let your peace descend upon it; if it does not, let your peace come back to you. And if anyone does not welcome you or listen to what you have to say, as you walk out of the house or town shake the dust from your feet. I tell you solemnly, on the day of Judgement it will not go as hard with the land of Sodom and Gomorrah as with that town.’
