March 1/Second Friday of Lent
When the LORD called down a famine on the land and ruined the crop that sustained them,
He sent a man before them, Joseph, sold as a slave. ~ Ps 105.16-17
The book assigned for my high school Bible History course was entitled The Book of the Acts of God (or as we irreverently called it, BAGS). The book is long out of print and its theology perhaps out of fashion, but its underlying premise still resonates: God is at work in the lives of his people. Our psalm today, excerpted from a longer recital of the wondrous deeds of God in the history of Israel, focuses on the story of Joseph. Most of us remember fondly this riches-to-rags-to-riches narrative from Sunday school: the jealous brothers who sell the favorite son into slavery; Joseph’s success in Egypt, his betrayal by his master Potiphar’s wife, whose advances Joseph has resisted, and his incarceration; his subsequent ascent to head Pharaoh’s household due to his ability to interpret dreams. Joseph hardly enjoyed a straightforward or uncomplicated path through life: he was rejected and betrayed, falsely accused and imprisoned, utterly forgotten by those who could have helped him. We, too, encounter people who ignore us, problems that leave us stymied, dilemmas whose resolution is uncertain. But even when things seem at a standstill and we feel stuck, God is at work in our lives. As Father Gerald Vann, a 20th-century English Dominican preacher and author, wrote, “We live our lives at many different levels; and the events on the surface we can see and assess, but we may know little or nothing of what is going on deep down beneath the surface.” Even when we are unaware of the acts of God, or convinced that God has abandoned us to languish in suffering, He continues to operate in our lives – if we allow him to – with the ineffable, inscrutable power of his love.
Lord God, whose mystery remains beyond human reach, May I sense your hand at work in my life even when it seems most absent. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030124.cfm
To hear the The Schola Cantorum of St. Peter’s in the Loop (Chicago) sing “God Is Working His Purpose Out,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aehhIC0cL2k
