Can God bring good out of evil? That is the question we began to examine last Saturday when Rachel and Jacob conspired against Isaac and Esau. During this week we have moved to the next generation and seen how Joseph, the favored son of Jacob, was maliciously sold as a slave and their father deceived by the brothers.

Today's heart touching episode demonstrates the power of forgiveness. A few blocks from here is the Maronite Parish of Our Lady of Purgatory. A strange sounding title to our cultured ears, but perhaps it is the equivalent of the Mass I celebrate today, Our Lady of Ransom, a title given to Mary in the 13th century by James I, King of Aragon in consultation with the Dominican Saint Raymond of Penyafort.

Unlike Rachael who deceived to favor her son, Mary, as a loving mother, is noted for her compassion. Literally being with Jesus faithful beneath the cross, where she is given to us as a mother who cares unceasingly with a mother's love for all her children in their need, breaking the bonds of every form of captivity, that we might enjoy full liberty of body and spirit.

Certainly she must have known, and most definitely lived in her life, the words of today's gospel: Do not fear those who deprive the body of life, but cannot destroy the soul. Every hair of your head has been counted, so do not be afraid of anything.

Whom do you think had the greater fear in the first reading: Joseph or his brothers? But love dissolves all fear.

A woman once shared with me what she called the story of her awakening," a term used in Twelve Stepping to indicate the growth process of healing.

Only after her daughter had run away from home was she able to see how unjustly she had nagged and ridiculed this young woman in her child-growing years. She became aware that much of her harsh treatment was triggered by jealousy, which she had felt because of her daughter's youth and beauty.

Realization of this great wound led her to seek counseling and Twelve Step support enabling her to discover a New Way of Living.