10th JULY. FRIDAY IN WEEK 14

1.Genesis 46:1-7,28-30

2.Matthew 10:16-23

REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS

Tears of sorrow and of Joy

Today’s readings are appropriate for Friday, the day when we commemorate the day of Jesus on the cross. We are reminded to console those who are bereaving and grieving. Joseph and Jacob wept over their long separation and final reunion. The gospel too, while it does not mention tears, implies them as brother hands brother over death, and children “turn against parents and have them put to death.” According to the mind of God, tears of grief can be turn into tears of joy as cited in the case of Jacob and Joseph. Jacob and Joseph realized  that tears of grief and of hope can be turned into tears of Joy, for as soon as Joseph saw him, he flung himself on his elderly father’s neck and wept a long time in his arms.

Likewise, when Jesus warns of family hostility and even of betrayal, he advises us to persevere with high hopes, and grand ideals. We are encouraged by the word of God not to take revenge with one another, but trust completely in God’s ideals of forgiveness and fidelity, and hold out till the end. Along the way we are promised that we will be given what we are to say (the providence of God) “for the spirit of your Father will be speaking in you.”It is only when this ideal of goodness extends throughout our entire world that humanity’s best hopes be realized, and the kingdom of God will have come.