Book of Genesis #62

Genesis is not a book that stands on its own. It is Part 1 of the Pentateuch and can only be understood in the context of the Pentateuch. Therefore, the last chapter of Genesis is a transition into the next major segment of the Pentateuch: Exodus.

Ominously, the last word of Genesis is "Egypt." There the coffin of Joseph will wait for 400 years before being transported out of Egypt in dramatic circumstances.

Yet the events of Exodus have been set in motion long before Moses and the event of Exodus cannot be understood apart from the Book of Genesis to which it is organically united.

The major themes of Genesis are

1. Creation is God's and God's only.
2. Man does not possess himself. He is not the master of his destiny or his life for he has no control over either.
3. Man is intrinsically good for God created him very good. Man is made in the image of God and is destined for greatness.
4. Despite man's repeated failure and mistrust of God, the Lord is always present faithful to his covenant.
5. It is God who takes the first step every step of the way.
6. Blessings and Curses are real, powerful and an expression of the power God placed in the hands of man.
7. God did not abandon his people but out of the great goodness of his heart thought them and guided them to safety.

Genesis is a mirror reflecting our relationship with God. By meditating on the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph we develop a biblical understanding of our life and we begin to live as they did, as stranger and sojourner in a strange land, awaiting the day of our salvation, placing our hope and trust in God and in the surety of the teaching office of the Church and being nourished with the Body and Blood of Jesus, our soul is elevated to things from above and begins to taste here the blessings of Heaven.

Book of Genesis #61

Some years later -- we are not told the exact number, Jacob is on his death bed.

He knows he is going to die so he gathers his sons around him and he gives them his spiritual testament which is far more important than any material testament can ever be for its consequences will be felt down the generations.

Jacob does not speak blessings to his sons. In fact more often than not what he has to say is more like a curse. In a very real sense, the rest of the historical books of Scripture record the unfolding of these words of Jacob in time.

The blessings -- and the curses -- of parents are extremely potent more so than modern man dares to realize. This is why St. Paul admonishes his readers in Roman 12:14 to "bless and not to curse." He was not telling them to "bless" rather than swear (that is to speak foul of others) he meant what he said "do not curse," for he knew the power of cursing which is as real as the power of blessing.

Parents, therefore, should do their utmost to pass on a living faith to their children whom they should bless often by words and by deeds which keep them (the parents) faithful to the Covenant of God otherwise some of them may have bitter things to say to their children on their deathbed; words of power that will affect the lives of the children down the generations.

Book of Genesis #60

Joseph, upon hearing his father was ill brings his two sons to bless. He wants to receive the blessing of the firstborn and immediately passes it to his children.

Normally the blessing is passed from first-born to first-born but in this case, Joseph does not ask a blessing upon himself, instead, he asks Jacob to bless both of his sons; a sign he has received the double blessing of the firstborn.

There, a curious thing happens, which happened before multiple times: Jacob whose eyes are dim crosses his hands laying his right hand on the head of the younger Ephraim and prophecies that Ephraim shall be greater than Manasseh in the history of Israel. In fact, Ephraim became synonymous with Israel after the kingdom of David was split in two between north and south.

God raises men and women for a special purpose and we often confuse the mission God has for each one of us and his love; somehow we think that God's love for us is proportional to the importance (judged from our vantage point) he wishes to hand to us as if we are competing for his attention.

God does not love us so.

The only divine measure of God's love is the Cross. Since his son died for us on the Cross, the love of God the Father for each of us is measured by the Cross -- it is infinite regardless of the importance or lack thereof that we may ascribe to our lives and our tasks.

Heaven is not a corporation, God is not a CEO. God is a family and heaven is home and God loves us so because he is a Father.