March 1, 2004, Friday of the second week of Lent.

A reading from the book of Genesis. Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child

of his old age, and he had made him a long tunic. When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons, they hated him so

much that they would not even greet him.

One day when his brothers had gone to pasture their father's flocks at Shechem, Israel said to Joseph,

Your brothers, you know, are tending our flocks at Shechem. Get ready, I will send you to them.

So Joseph went after his brothers and caught up with them in Dothan. They noticed him from a

distance, and before he came up to them, they plotted to kill him.

They said to one another, here comes that master dreamer.

Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here.

We could say that a wild beast devoured him.

We shall then see what comes of his dreams. When Ruben heard this,

he tried to save him from their hands, saying, we must not take his life. Instead of shedding

blood, he continued, just throw him into that cistern there in the desert, but do not kill him outright.

His purpose was to rescue him from their hands and return him to his father.

So when Joseph came up to them, they stripped him of the long tunic he had on,

then they took him and threw him into the cistern, which was empty and dry.

They then sat down to their meal.

Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels laden with

gum, balm, and resin, to be taken down to Egypt.

Judah said to his brothers,

What is to be gained by killing our brother and concealing his blood?

...