Wednesday of the
Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Genesis 41:55-57.42:5-7a.17-24a; Matthew 10:1-7)
Although the greater challenge today is obesity, famine
still exists. Africa seems especially
susceptible to the problem. It is not so
much lack of rain there that causes crops to fail as the deterioration of the
environment through excessive grazing. War
is another major cause of hunger in Africa.
In war farmers are reluctant to plant, and the dislocation of large
numbers of people creates huge emergency needs.
If the world community could prevent war, it would go a long way in
preventing famine.
During the great biblical famine which today’s first
reading gives account, some of Israel’s sons take recourse to Egypt which has
stored vast reserves of grain. There
they unknowingly meet their brother Joseph whom they mistreated in the
past. Fortunately for them Joseph’s kind
heart inclines him to forgiveness rather than vengeance. He will take care of his family although he
mischievously masks from them his identity until his full brother Benjamin is
brought to him.
To assure the virtual elimination of famine, peoples and
nations must likewise replace vengeance with forgiveness. It is not a one-sided quest, however. Where wrongs have been committed, the guilty
party needs to ask forgiveness. Such mutual
self-abnegation is achieved only with divine assistance which already has been
extended in Christ. But it is not that we
expect all peoples to embrace Christianity before world peace can be
achieved. Rather we pray that the
governments of the world recognize the reality of a human family under God, which
Jesus epitomized, as the basis of international relations.
