March 10/Second Friday of Lent
Remember the marvels the Lord has done. ~ Ps 105.5
The marvel referred to in today’s verses is that favorite Sunday School story of Joseph – hated by his brothers and sold into slavery in Egypt; falsely accused of sexual advances by Pharaoh’s wife, Potiphar, and imprisoned; redeemed by his God-given skill at interpreting dreams; and raised to prominence in Pharaoh’s court, from which he forgave and reconciled with his brothers. It’s a pretty marvelous story. But God’s marvels aren’t limited to ancient history; they occur in our own time, too. We just don’t see them. For our human tendency is to focus on the negative – the estranged relationship, ill health, work difficulties, shortcomings in the church. In truth, though, God mysteriously and wonderfully manages to extract good even from these, taking the broken bits of the world and fashioning them into a complex and beautiful mosaic. The great 20th-century Christian apologist C.S. Lewis, in his memoir Surprised by Joy, writes of the cruelties and deficiencies of the English boarding school to which he was sent as a boy – but also points to that school as the providential place where he first “became an effective believer” in Christianity. Instead of dwelling on the challenges and failings around (and within us), might we focus our lens on the schools, hospitals, and charities that generously convey Christian love into the world? Or the perseverance of a vibrant parish life in an ambient culture that devalues the life of faith? Or the good works that the saintly (like Mother Teresa) and the less-than-saintly (perhaps like you and me!) can do for one another through acts of service? The generations of a family, lasting friendships, the world’s natural beauty – God’s marvels are right at hand, if only we have the eyes to see them, and the determination to remember them.
Lord God, whose mystery remains beyond human reach, May I sense your marvelous hand at work in my life — and in the world — even when it seems most absent. Amen.
To hear the Worcester Cathedral Choir sing “Immortal, invisible, God only wise,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFgM46YKg78
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031023.cfm
