Joseph, his Memories and the Danger of Resentment

In Your Presence

This is a meditation preached on July 9, 2025 at Kintore College in Toronto, after having spent almost a month in Germany.

First reading is from Genesis 41. Our dramatic story of the terrible famine in Egypt. The origin of the phrase, go to Joseph.

Joseph of the Old Testament had been mistreated and even hated by his brothers, now they come to him for help. It is a deeply emotional moment for Joseph, as he recognizes his brothers, those whom he had grown up with, and who had been so jealous of him, and had often mistreated him. Yet something inside told him that they were his brothers, and that he had a providential role with them. We know that these brothers were the 12 tribes of Israel, and that they would foreshadow the 12 apostles.

Let us look at the role of memory in our resentments and how memory must be purified for us to be men and women of hope.

Music: Michael Lee of Toronto.

Thumbnail: Bas relief fragment portraying Cleopatra