Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
The reading from Genesis today is lengthy, and yet it cuts out a very key section in the liturgy. The underlying issue in this passage is that Abraham’s wife is dead and he has no more descendants for the covenant. He only has the promised son Isaac. Isaac is distraught at the loss of his mother and apparently getting on in years and not interested in a wife. If he does not produce an heir all of Abraham’s inheritance will move from the childless Isaac to his head slave, Eliezer.
Eliezer goes to Ur of the Chaldees, to Abraham’s kin, to find a wife for Isaac. Eliezer has every vested interest in not finding a wife because he stands to gain a free and rich life. He meets Rebecca at a great cistern. Strike one: he found a beautiful and unmarried woman who is Abraham’s relative. She speaks to him (which an unmarried woman should not have done at the time) – strike two! Eliezer then asks her to draw water from the cistern for his pack animals. This would require going down a long spiral staircase to plunge a giant stone jar into the water and carry it back up to pour into troughs – which she does over and over. Strike Three! We can image the chagrin with which Eliezer seethed at successfully ruining all his designs.
I suppose for religious people we often think about how bad things happen to good people. This reality tests our spirits. Yet there are plenty of times when we should recognize when good things happen despite all the odds, when God’s will is fulfilled, we should give thanks.
Reflection by Fr. Pachomius Meade, OSB
