Memory of the Church

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Genesis 44,18-21.23-29; 45,1-5

At this, Judah went up to him 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 by that mother now left, and his father loves him." Then you said to your servants, "Bring him down to me, so that I can set eyes 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 get us a little food," we said, "We cannot go down. We shall go only if our youngest brother is with us for, unless our youngest brother is with us, we shall not be admitted to the man's presence." So your servant our father said to us, "You know that my wife bore me two children. When one of them left me, I supposed that he must have been torn to pieces, and I have never seen him since. If you take this one from me too and any harm comes to him, you will send my white head down to Sheol with 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 dumbfounded at seeing 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.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Judah, one of the brothers, finally takes responsibility. He no longer insists in deception; he does not try to solve the situation by being silent or telling lies. Reconciliation starts when he speaks with an open heart to Joseph, whom he has not yet recognised. It is also difficult for them to find their brother. They discover him when they finally speak of their father, of the grief caused by the death of one of the two sons his wife had given him. When they had thrown him into the cistern to kill him, they had thought of neither brother nor father at all. We rediscover the way of brotherhood when we care of our brother, when we finally become his keeper, and when we understand the father's grief. Faced with Judah' sincere words and his father's grief, Joseph too can no longer restrain himself and, left alone with his brothers, in intimacy, he finally reveals himself and weeps. Jesus too will weep before the sheep that are weary because they have no shepherd. He will weep because Jerusalem has not listened to his word of change. The brothers are terrified in acknowledging him. Mercy finally melts their hearts and allows them to meet each other again. Joseph, like Jesus, reveals to them that he has been sent by God to save them, and that everything, even pain, is recomposed in his mercy. It is Joseph who takes upon himself the brothers' difficulties so that they can live reconciled in one family again.