“But now do not be distressed, and do not reproach yourselves for having sold me here.
It was really for the sake of saving lives that God sent me here ahead of you." // Genesis 45:5
Sunday was the first anniversary of my husband’s death, at the age of forty-eight, after a long battle with cancer. At the end of today’s Old Testament reading (see Genesis 44:18-21, 23b-29; 45:1-5), Joseph forgives his brothers and reflects with them on the fact that the great wrong they inflicted upon him—by selling him into slavery—was used by God to accomplish the great good of preserving the lives of many who would otherwise have perished during the seven-year famine, including the lives of Joseph’s father and the brothers themselves.
I sometimes wonder if I’ll ever be able to look back and say, “Oh, I see now the good that God created from this tragedy.” Not many of us are given the gift of the kind of clarity Joseph has. Not in this world, anyway. For most of us, our view of our lives is more like looking at a tapestry. We can only imagine the back side of it during our time on earth, and it can look like a mess. But someday, we hope to be with God on the other side, and see the beauty He was able to weave with all the complicated strands of our influences and experiences.
Joseph’s example to us is twofold. He recognizes that good that came from his suffering, and he forgives the people who were responsible for it. Who must I forgive to emulate Joseph? Adam and Eve for committing the sin that brought suffering and illness into the world (see Catechism of the Catholic Church § 1521)? My husband for keeping the faith and finishing the race (see 2 Timothy 4:7)? The priests who, like the Apostles in today’s Gospel, came to us to “cure the sick, raise the dead” (Matthew 10:8) . . . but failed? God? Yeah, it’s probably God.
For now, I’m content to say with Job, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21).
In what suffering in your life could you seek to see the good and offer forgiveness? Might God be creating something beautiful through it?
Kendra Tierney Norton is grateful to be a wife, mother, and stepmother. She lives in the wilds of unincorporated Los Angeles County in a big old fixer-upper house with her husband and a varying number of their combined fourteen children, plus one fish, two cats, and twenty chickens. She likes to say that her goal is keeping Catholicism weird. To that end, she is the author of books including the Catholic All Year Compendium: Liturgical Living for Real Life with Ignatius Press and O Come, Emmanuel: Advent Reflections on the Jesse Tree for Families with Emmaus Road Publishing, the creator of the TV series Catholic All Year At Home on FORMED, and the CEO of Catholic All Year, an apostolate dedicated to helping parents live out their Catholic faith and pass it along to their children.
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