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dreamers

Fr. Tom Konopka
Mar 6
2 min read

The story of Joseph in the book of Genesis is a familiar story. For those who do not know it:

Jacob has 2 wives. He has Leah and Rachel, and two concubines, Bilhah and Zilpah. He has 6 sons with Leah and one daughter, 2 sons with Bilhah on behalf of Leah, 2 sons with Zilpah on behalf of Rachael and 2 sons with Rachael. They are the daughters of Laban who took Jacob in when he ran away from Esau from whom Jacob cheated out of the birth right.

These 12 are the forerunners of the 12 tribes of Jacob. We have to love the humanity of the stories of the Pentateuch.

It is in the sacred stories we find our own story. Jealousy in families, angers, tensions between siblings jockeying for parental acceptance, parents who bring generational trauma and behaviors into their families, and that list continues. But it is also in these imperfect families we find the divine presence of God and, like with Joseph, we find divine justice. God transformed the betrayal of Joseph by his brothers into an opportunity for Joseph to prepare and preserve his people from famine by the role he had in Egypt. God can transform us into His people in spite of our imperfections and transform the family into the “domestic church” if we allow it to happen.

Yes, he was a dreamer, but the world needs people who are dreamers. Dreamers are those who show us a new way and a new path. Joseph was able to read the dreams of others. Jesus was a dreamer of the what acceptance of the Kingdom of heaven would be. But, like Joseph who was rejected by his brothers, Jesus was rejected too. Like Joseph was made a slave, Jesus would be the slave sacrificed for his brothers and sisters. Like Jospeh thrown into a pit, Jesus was placed in a tomb. Like Joseph, who was pulled from the pit, Jesus rose from the dead and broke the bonds of death and sin and began the new world of the Kingdom.

On this penitential day of Lent, may our fast be offered for the family of the world. For a just peace in the Middle East and end to violence. May God’s peace which only God can give reign.

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