The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to attend to our responsibility in the face of persecution of people who migrate to protect the safety, health, and survival of their families.
The reading from the Book of Genesis describes the migration of Jacob and family to Egypt.
* [46:1–47:26] Jacob and his family settle in Egypt. Joseph’s economic policies.
* [46:3] I am God: more precisely according to the Hebrew text, “I am El.” “El” is here a divine name, not the common noun “god.” (Genesis, CHAPTER 46 | USCCB, n.d.)
Psalm 37 responds to the problem of evil.
* [Psalm 37] The Psalm responds to the problem of evil, which the Old Testament often expresses as a question: why do the wicked prosper and the good suffer? The Psalm answers that the situation is only temporary. God will reverse things, rewarding the good and punishing the wicked here on earth. The perspective is concrete and earthbound: people’s very actions place them among the ranks of the good or wicked. Each group or “way” has its own inherent dynamism—eventual frustration for the wicked, eventual reward for the just. The Psalm is an acrostic, i.e., each section begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Each section has its own imagery and logic. (Psalms, PSALM 37 | USCCB, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus warns of coming persecutions for followers of the Way.
* [10:21] See Mi 7:6 which is cited in Mt 10:35, 36.
* [10:22] To the end: the original meaning was probably “until the parousia.” But it is not likely that Matthew expected no missionary disciples to suffer death before then, since he envisages the martyrdom of other Christians (Mt 10:21). For him, the end is probably that of the individual’s life (see Mt 10:28).
* [10:23] Before the Son of Man comes: since the coming of the Son of Man at the end of the age had not taken place when this gospel was written, much less during the mission of the Twelve during Jesus’ ministry, Matthew cannot have meant the coming to refer to the parousia. It is difficult to know what he understood it to be: perhaps the “proleptic parousia” of Mt 28:16–20, or the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70, viewed as a coming of Jesus in judgment on unbelieving Israel. (Matthew, CHAPTER 10 | USCCB, n.d.)
Sara Schulte-Bukowinski was recently present as a prayerful witness to an ICE raid in Omaha. The desperation of family members trying to reach their loved ones was palpable. Those detained that day were not violent criminals, but people who had worked hard, some for decades, in her own city. They are people who raised families, paid taxes and were trying to create a better life for their children.
Looking at our gospel for today one could make the argument that their persecution was not because of their faith in the Lord. However, what stirs in my heart as I read today’s readings (especially the psalm) is that the pursuit of freedom, justice, and the dignity that comes from one’s labor are indeed Kingdom values. In any case, our gospel today is clear that the political authority of the world will sometimes be in conflict with the exercise of faith. This does not mean I can have a flagrant disregard for laws in general, but it does mean that I must never confuse the law of the land with the Law of the Lord. I must strive to follow the latter and trust in the Lord, even when it brings painful division, even should it bring persecution.
Lord grant us wisdom to hear your call, and the courage to respond. (Schulte-Bukowinski, n.d.)
Don Schwager quotes “The Spirit of your heavenly Father speaks through you in every age,” by Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD).
"To be sure, we heard in that reading, 'But when they deliver you up, do not be anxious how or what you are to speak... for it is not you who are speaking but the Spirit of your Father who speaks through you.' And he says in another place: 'Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the world' (Matthew 28:20). Does this mean that the people who heard those words of the Lord would be here until the end of the world? The Lord was referring, rather, not only to those about to depart from this life but also to the others, including us and those who would come after us in this life. He saw everyone in his single body, and the words he spoke, 'I am with you even to the end of the world,' were heard by them and by us too. And if we did not hear them then in our knowledge, we heard them in his foreknowledge. Therefore, safe as sheep among the wolves, let us keep the commandments of him who directs us. And let us be 'innocent as doves but cautious as snakes' (Matthew 10:16). Innocent as doves that we may not harm anyone; cautious as snakes that we may be careful of letting anyone harm us." (excerpt from the Sermon 44a.2) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Genesis 46:1-7, 28-30 comments that moving is always stressful, and pulling up roots to move to a foreign country is ten times as challenging! So imagine, in today’s reading, Jacob assembling his caravan—his growing family, their possessions, and all the flocks and herds they tended.
You may find yourself today in new circumstances or unfamiliar territory. You may be facing opposition from someone close to you. You may even end up wrestling with old patterns of thinking or habitual sin. Yet these are the times when God’s promises mean the most. So whatever you are facing, you can also expect the Lord to stay close to you. Even if you have to “go down to Egypt” today, know that you won’t be going alone!
“Lord, help me to stand on your promises and take refuge in your presence!” (Meditation on Genesis 46:1-7, 28-30, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the Genesis passage where the brothers of Joseph invite Jacob to Egypt, who is always thinking of self even as God tells him to be a great nation. As Jacob is welcomed into the Nile delta, the author calls the man Israel, the name associated with wrestling with God as a man of integrity struggling to find the Will of God. Matthew’s Gospel declares the Apostles will suffer and will need to be shrewd and clever to survive. Friar Jude notes they were handed to death, even by family. Near 85 CE Jewish rabbis decided to kick Christians out of the synagogue as heretics to burn in hell forever, Friar Jude notes that what Jesus came true in Matthew’s time.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares how the story of Jonah became so important to him and his framework of transformation.
I’ve always made a great deal of the passage where Jesus says, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given except the sign of Jonah” (Luke 11:29). He is saying that his message is simple and clear: You’ve got to die before you die. In rites of initiation we teach people that they have to go down before they can possibly go up. In modern psychological language, we call it the death of the ego or the separate self. What has to die is our sense of separateness, because what goes with separateness is superiority. Once we define ourselves according to our nationality, culture, religion, or identity, then we feel we have to defend each one of those. What a waste of energy! We sink to scolding and blaming; not just are we “number one,” but everybody else is a second-class citizen.
That’s how dualistic our thoughts become. When the private ego didn’t die, Christianity even made salvation into a victory trip, thinking we knew who “won.” To undergo the sign of Jonah feels like losing, and by worldly standards, it looks like it, too. The sign of Jonah is a symbol of surrender, of letting go, of giving up. Most of us wouldn’t describe those as the stages of the journey of enlightenment, but they’re much closer to the real truth and the real journey. (Rohr, n.d.)
We ponder our spiritual heritage of migration to living as disciples of Christ and implore the Spirit to activate our Baptismal anointing as priest, prophet, and leader in our actions to support brothers and sisters seeking to migrate for the sake of their family well being.
References
Genesis, CHAPTER 46 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved July 11, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/genesis/46?1
Matthew, CHAPTER 10 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved July 11, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/10?16
Meditation on Genesis 46:1-7, 28-30. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved July 11, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/07/11/1329579/
Psalms, PSALM 37 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved July 11, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/37?3
Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved July 11, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-story-of-transformation/
Schulte-Bukowinski, S. (n.d.). Daily Reflection. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved July 11, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-july-11-2025
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Sheep in the Midst of Wolves - Wise and Innocent. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved July 11, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=jul11
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