Joseph Asks Why We Are Sad

Then the venerable Joseph saw that we were in rather low spirits, and guessing that this was not without reason, he spoke to us in these words of the patriarch Joseph: “Why are your faces sad today?” We answered him: We are not like those slaves of Pharaoh who had seen a dream and there was no one to interpret it. But I admit that we have spent a sleepless night, and there is no one to lighten the weight of our troubles, unless the Lord removes them through your wisdom. Then he, who called the patriarch’s excellence to mind both by his merits and by his name, said: Does not the cure of human perplexities come from the Lord? Let them be brought out. For the compassion of God is able to give a remedy for them through our advice, according to your faith. [a]