| Wed Mar 18 | am: 101, 109 pm: 119:121-144 | Gen 50:15-26 | 1 Cor 12:1-11 | Mark 8:11-26 |
FOURTH WEDNESDAY OF LENT – St Narcissus of Girona, 362
LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY: Saint Narcissus was a 4th-century bishop from northeastern Catalonia who was a missionary bishop who spread the Gospel as far as Augsburg. During the persecutions of Diocletian, he fled to modern Augsburg, Germany, with his deacon, Saint Felix of Gerona. There, they befriended Saint Afra of Augsburg, whom he led to Christ. She was burned at the stake for failing to swear allegiance to the Roman Emperor shortly after becoming a Christian and for harboring the bishop in her house.
BIBLICAL MEDITATION OF THE DAY: The closing chapter of Genesis brings the long‑running story of Joseph to its climax. After decades of betrayal, slavery, famine, and rise to power, Joseph finally gathers his brothers and his aging father, Jacob, in Egypt. When Jacob dies, the brothers fear what Joseph might do now that the patriarch who protected them is gone. Their anxiety is not merely about loss; it is the sting of guilt resurfacing in the absence of the one who could intercede for them.
During Lent, we are invited to confront the parts of ourselves we usually keep hidden—pride, selfishness, the ways we have hurt others. The brothers’ fear mirrors our own “inner Joseph”: the part of us that knows we have wronged someone and wonders how that person will respond when we are no longer shielded by a forgiving authority. Their dread is a reminder that unconfessed sin does not disappear with the passing of a protective figure; it follows us. Joseph’s response is the decisive Lenten moment of the narrative. Rather than repaying the brothers for their past cruelty, he says, “You intended evil against me, but God turned it into good” (Gen 50:20). Here we see grace at work: God’s mercy reframes a story of betrayal into one of redemption. The same grace that rescued Joseph from the pit and prison now protects his family from the consequences of their sin.
For us, Lent is the season to receive that grace and to test whether it becomes internalized or merely consumed. Do we keep the mercy we have been given as a private comfort, or do we let it spill outward, forgiving those who have hurt us?
PRAYER OF THE DAY: Gracious Father, you turned Joseph’s suffering into salvation; may the same mercy transform our hearts. Help us to confront the fear that rises when we recall our own wrongs and grant us the courage to lay that fear down before you.
Teach us to receive your grace not as a private comfort but as a living fire that compels us to forgive those who have hurt us. May we, like Joseph, extend generosity and hope to our brothers and sisters, trusting that your good purpose works even through our brokenness.
Strengthen this Lenten season to walk in humility, to speak words of reconciliation, and to embody the resurrection hope that promises new life for all. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen
ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE: ‘We are all to pray to God to take from us the opportunity of sinning; so frail we are; it is no sooner offered, but we are ready to embrace it – God help us.” – Blessed Jeremy Taylor
LENTEN DISCIPLINE – Reflect on the challenges and choices you have made in your life regarding your family. Make an inventory of those decisions of the times you may have been disingenuous about your family. Pray that the Holy Spirit will fill you with the conviction to bear witness to the grace of forgiveness and reconciliation that Joseph had.
SONG OF THE HEART, SONG OF THE SEASON – “God Meant It for Good” by Matthew David Fritz