18 March 2022 - Friday of the third week of Lent - Genesis 37: 3-4, 12-13, 17-28

    God’s grace is at work in our lives in our joys and our successes, but also in our sufferings and challenging as well.  In the story of Joseph today in the Old Testament, we hear how the greed and jealousy of his brothers lead to his exile from his family, to his brothers selling Joseph for pieces of silver, foreshadowing how Judas would later betray Jesus for his own monetary gain as well.  When Joseph is brought to Egypt, circumstance are set up for the story of the people of Israel, for the story of God’s chosen people who are led by the Lord to the promised land.  God’s grace is at work in the life of Joseph, in the life of his family, in the journey of the people of Israel that go back to this story of jealousy and greed and the betrayal of a brother.  

       We see God’s grace at work in the life of Cyril of Jerusalem, the saint we celebrate today.  We know Cyril as a revered Doctor of the Church and Early Church Father.  His true story is more complicated than that.  Born in the early 4th century in Jerusalem, Cyril was well-educated.  He was ordained a priest in the Early Church and was responsible for those catechumens preparing for baptism and entry into the Church.  He later received the honor of becoming Bishop of Jerusalem. He was caught up in the Arian heresy of the day, since some of the Bishops of his province who consecrated him as Bishop adhered to that heresy and expected him to follow them in that teaching that denied Christ’s divinity.  Cyril was accused of things, driving from Jerusalem, but later received vindication.  He returned to Jerusalem from exile to find that city torn apart by heresy and strife.  Yet, Cyril’s writings on the instructions he gave catechumens and the order of the liturgy of his day remain important documents from the Early Church.  Life can be very messy and complicated at time, but we can see God’s grace at work leading us to the truth.  As we face a complicated and fractured reality in our own Church today, let us pray for our Church and our Church leaders, uniting our prayers with the prayer of Cyril of Jerusalem.