The heartwarming story of Tobit and his family continues. Tobiah sends his travel companion ahead to recover the money his father had left for safekeeping with his kinsman, Gabael. Raphael returns with Gabael in tow, eager to join the joyful wedding celebration. Knowing his parents must be anxious for his return, Tobias and his new wife depart her parents' home after the two week celebration to head off for Nineveh. They are given a very warm and loving send off. It's a small thing, but to me it reinforces how marriage is (or can be, or should be) a joining in love of two families, not just two individuals.
Meanwhile, Tobit and Anna are very worried about their son, with Anna sure something terrible has happened. When Tobiah nears Nineveh, he and Raphael actually run ahead of the rest of their party, in order to get to Tobiah's parents sooner. His mother, keeping watch of the road (like the Prodigal Son's father, right?), sees him first. Tobiah greets his joyous parents, and then, at Raphael's direction, rubs the fish gall into his father's eyes. Tobit's sight is restored. "I can see you, son, the light of my eyes!" Tobit exclaims. Beautiful.
Raphael finally reveals himself, and urges Tobit and his family to "continue to thank God every day; praise him with song." He goes on to say:
Behold, I am about to ascend to him who sent me; write down all these things that have happened to you.
Reminds me of Jesus' own Ascension.
Tobit sings a wonderful song of praise. He instructs his son and family about the future:
Now, children, I give you this command: serve God faithfully and do what is right before him; you must tell your children to do what is upright and to give alms, to be mindful of God and at all times to bless his name sincerely and with all their strength.
Tobit dies. Tobiah and his family leave Nineveh, as Tobit had instructed them, and a short time later Nineveh is destroyed.
I love this book. Tobit is a simple man, a family man. Loving and hopeful. He endures patiently and with equanimity, never losing confidence in God and never ceasing to try to do what is right. Unlike the heroes of the Old Testament stories before this, he doesn't do great or miraculous things. Rather, he is a simple man who is faithful of heart.
Showing posts with label Tobit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tobit. Show all posts
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival
Welcome back, friends! Today is a great day in our household, as my older son graduates from high school this day. Much rejoicing. But in my heart I know it also means another milestone closer to the day he spreads his wings and flies. That will be a bittersweet day, as I love him and enjoy his company so much. But this is how life works, and I am very grateful for the beautiful young man he has grown up to be.
Anyway, between preparing for this special day and reading Dan Brown's Inferno, I have been a little light on the posts. But this week was about the Book of Tobit, which, if you haven't read it, I heartily recommend. It is a short, warm and engaging story.
Here are this week's posts:
Blame It On Dante
Tobit 1-3
Tobit 4-8
And here is the link to Sunday Snippets
Sunday Snippets--June 2, 2013
Enjoy and have a great week!
John
Anyway, between preparing for this special day and reading Dan Brown's Inferno, I have been a little light on the posts. But this week was about the Book of Tobit, which, if you haven't read it, I heartily recommend. It is a short, warm and engaging story.
Here are this week's posts:
Blame It On Dante
Tobit 1-3
Tobit 4-8
And here is the link to Sunday Snippets
Sunday Snippets--June 2, 2013
Enjoy and have a great week!
John
Tobit 4-8
Well, I have to hand it to Sr. Georgine (see previous post), she picked well. The Book of Tobit is incredibly rich. We have mercy, tradition, a normal family, an angel, a journey, true love, marriage, some hanky-panky (within the confines of marriage, of course), and some razzle-dazzle as well.
Tobit sends his son, Tobiah to his kinsman, Gabael, to reclaim the money that Tobit had long ago left with Gabael for safekeeping. Before sending him off, though, Tobiah instructs his son on how he should conduct his life. Sort of a Last Lecture, filled with rich wisdom about being faithful of heart. In order, the lessons are: honor your parents; keep the Lord always in mind; help the poor and give of your substance to them; avoid immorality; marry within your tribe; act honestly in your business dealings; listen to others, especially the wise, and don;t be too proud to take advice; and, finally, bless the Lord and ask Him for help along your journey in life. It reminds me some of Polonius' advice to Laertes in Hamlet, before Laertes set off on a journey himself--but Tobit's words are so much more profound, including:
Son, give alms in proportion to what you own. If you have great wealth, give alms out of your abundance; if you have but little, distribute even some of that.
This is the message Pope John Paul II delivered in his homily at Yankee Stadium back in 1978--a Mass I had the privilege of attending. I wrote about it in an earlier post.
Raphael, the angel God as commissioned to rescue Tobit and Sarah from their misery, inserts himself as a guide to take Tobiah to Gabael's home town. Before they depart, Raphael tells Tobit: Take courage! God has healing in store for you; so take courage!" How often I have heard those words myself, in some way or another, coming (I am sure) from God.
Some of the razzle-dazzle I mentioned before comes early in the journey, when Raphael instructs Tobiah to pull a fish from the water and cut out and keep some of its innards to be used later. Raphael then tells Tobiah that must stop off and visit another of Tobiah's kinsman, who has a daughter that Tobiah should marry. This, of course, is Sarah, whose own prayers are soon to be answered. As Raphael describes her, and before he has even met her, Tobiah falls in love with Sarah.
When Tobiah heard Raphael say that she was his kinswoman, of his own family's lineage, he fell deeply in love with her, and his heart became set on her.
Very romantic, no? Anyway, Tobiah and Rachel meet and Tobiah makes it known that he wishes to marry Sarah. Sarah's father is exultant:
Eat and drink and be merry tonight, for no man is more entitled to marry my daughter Sarah than you, brother. . . . from now on you are her love, and she is your beloved. She is yours today and ever after.
What a brief yet beautiful description of the marriage bond. Tobiah and Sarah marry that very day. At Raphael's instruction, Tobiah places the fish's liver and heart on the embers for the incense, driving away the demon who had killed Sarah's seven previous husbands. Raphael disposes of the demon. Tobiah and Sarah pray to God for happiness and long lives, and then they consummate their marriage. In the morning, when the household realizes that Sarah's husband has survived the night, there is much rejoicing.
******************************************
There is much rejoicing in my household today as well. The older of my two sons graduates from high school today. He is a wonderful young man and we are so very proud of him. Please pray for him on this special day.
Tobit sends his son, Tobiah to his kinsman, Gabael, to reclaim the money that Tobit had long ago left with Gabael for safekeeping. Before sending him off, though, Tobiah instructs his son on how he should conduct his life. Sort of a Last Lecture, filled with rich wisdom about being faithful of heart. In order, the lessons are: honor your parents; keep the Lord always in mind; help the poor and give of your substance to them; avoid immorality; marry within your tribe; act honestly in your business dealings; listen to others, especially the wise, and don;t be too proud to take advice; and, finally, bless the Lord and ask Him for help along your journey in life. It reminds me some of Polonius' advice to Laertes in Hamlet, before Laertes set off on a journey himself--but Tobit's words are so much more profound, including:
Son, give alms in proportion to what you own. If you have great wealth, give alms out of your abundance; if you have but little, distribute even some of that.
This is the message Pope John Paul II delivered in his homily at Yankee Stadium back in 1978--a Mass I had the privilege of attending. I wrote about it in an earlier post.
Raphael, the angel God as commissioned to rescue Tobit and Sarah from their misery, inserts himself as a guide to take Tobiah to Gabael's home town. Before they depart, Raphael tells Tobit: Take courage! God has healing in store for you; so take courage!" How often I have heard those words myself, in some way or another, coming (I am sure) from God.
Some of the razzle-dazzle I mentioned before comes early in the journey, when Raphael instructs Tobiah to pull a fish from the water and cut out and keep some of its innards to be used later. Raphael then tells Tobiah that must stop off and visit another of Tobiah's kinsman, who has a daughter that Tobiah should marry. This, of course, is Sarah, whose own prayers are soon to be answered. As Raphael describes her, and before he has even met her, Tobiah falls in love with Sarah.
When Tobiah heard Raphael say that she was his kinswoman, of his own family's lineage, he fell deeply in love with her, and his heart became set on her.
Very romantic, no? Anyway, Tobiah and Rachel meet and Tobiah makes it known that he wishes to marry Sarah. Sarah's father is exultant:
Eat and drink and be merry tonight, for no man is more entitled to marry my daughter Sarah than you, brother. . . . from now on you are her love, and she is your beloved. She is yours today and ever after.
What a brief yet beautiful description of the marriage bond. Tobiah and Sarah marry that very day. At Raphael's instruction, Tobiah places the fish's liver and heart on the embers for the incense, driving away the demon who had killed Sarah's seven previous husbands. Raphael disposes of the demon. Tobiah and Sarah pray to God for happiness and long lives, and then they consummate their marriage. In the morning, when the household realizes that Sarah's husband has survived the night, there is much rejoicing.
******************************************
There is much rejoicing in my household today as well. The older of my two sons graduates from high school today. He is a wonderful young man and we are so very proud of him. Please pray for him on this special day.
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Tobit 1-3
Ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming . . .
The Book of Tobit feels different to me than anything I've read so far in the Old Testament. Somehow the style of the prose and the tone just hit me in a way that nothing before has. It feels more, I don't know, modern. In a good way.
When I was a freshman in Catholic high school, attending Catholic school of any kind for the first time, my religion teacher was a little old nun named Sr. Georgine. She was small and soft-spoken, but tough. She struck fear in our hearts--mine at least. She tried to teach us to meditate in prayer, but she would occasionally fall asleep during those lessons. She took a swing at a couple of boys who misbehaved in the class, too. Ah, the good old days.
Anyway, Sr. Georgine began our year of Bible study with, you guessed it, the Book of Tobit.
Tobit is an Israelite, in exile in Nineveh. He is virtuous and kind. A charitable man. He has remained faithful to the Law of Moses, following the commands and worshipping and honoring only the one true God. Some of his charitable actions, in particular burying the dead, get him in trouble with the authorities, and he is briefly forced into hiding. While in hiding, his property is confiscated, leaving him with only his wife, his son, and some money he had deposited with a kinsman of his in another town. The political situation changes, and he is able to return home to his family and his virtuous ways. But his fortunes shift yet again. More charitable works lead to more trouble. His neighbors and even his wife mock and insult him. And to make matters worse, birds poop in his eyes and blind him. Yuch. Overcome with grief and sorrow, Tobit prays to the Lord for death. "All your ways are mercy and truth," Tobit declares, but he feels he can go on no longer. It is not hunger or physical pain or poverty that lead him to despair, but the calumnies and insults of those around him that he cannot bear.
Meantime, in another town, we find Sarah. Sarah has married seven times, only to have each new husband killed by a wicked demon on the wedding night, before the marriage could be consummated. Cruelly teased by people around her, Sarah, in her misery and grief, resolves to hang herself. She is stopped, however, by the realization that her suicide will bring shame and dishonor to her father. Like Tobit, she too prays for death to relieve her from her misery, but adds that if the Lord elects not to take her life, she prays that the Lord "look favorably upon me and have pity on me."
The Lord hears the prayers of Tobit and Sarah, and dispatches an angel, Raphael, "to heal them both." The early part of this story brings to mind my very favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life, although there the angel was, of course, named Clarence.
The Book of Tobit feels different to me than anything I've read so far in the Old Testament. Somehow the style of the prose and the tone just hit me in a way that nothing before has. It feels more, I don't know, modern. In a good way.
When I was a freshman in Catholic high school, attending Catholic school of any kind for the first time, my religion teacher was a little old nun named Sr. Georgine. She was small and soft-spoken, but tough. She struck fear in our hearts--mine at least. She tried to teach us to meditate in prayer, but she would occasionally fall asleep during those lessons. She took a swing at a couple of boys who misbehaved in the class, too. Ah, the good old days.
Anyway, Sr. Georgine began our year of Bible study with, you guessed it, the Book of Tobit.
Tobit is an Israelite, in exile in Nineveh. He is virtuous and kind. A charitable man. He has remained faithful to the Law of Moses, following the commands and worshipping and honoring only the one true God. Some of his charitable actions, in particular burying the dead, get him in trouble with the authorities, and he is briefly forced into hiding. While in hiding, his property is confiscated, leaving him with only his wife, his son, and some money he had deposited with a kinsman of his in another town. The political situation changes, and he is able to return home to his family and his virtuous ways. But his fortunes shift yet again. More charitable works lead to more trouble. His neighbors and even his wife mock and insult him. And to make matters worse, birds poop in his eyes and blind him. Yuch. Overcome with grief and sorrow, Tobit prays to the Lord for death. "All your ways are mercy and truth," Tobit declares, but he feels he can go on no longer. It is not hunger or physical pain or poverty that lead him to despair, but the calumnies and insults of those around him that he cannot bear.
Meantime, in another town, we find Sarah. Sarah has married seven times, only to have each new husband killed by a wicked demon on the wedding night, before the marriage could be consummated. Cruelly teased by people around her, Sarah, in her misery and grief, resolves to hang herself. She is stopped, however, by the realization that her suicide will bring shame and dishonor to her father. Like Tobit, she too prays for death to relieve her from her misery, but adds that if the Lord elects not to take her life, she prays that the Lord "look favorably upon me and have pity on me."
The Lord hears the prayers of Tobit and Sarah, and dispatches an angel, Raphael, "to heal them both." The early part of this story brings to mind my very favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life, although there the angel was, of course, named Clarence.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Blame It On Dante
It's Dante's fault. Really. Actually it's Dan Brown's fault. Ok, it's my fault. I apologize for no posts so far this week, but I am trying to pin it on someone else. Dan Brown's new novel is Inferno, whose central character (other than Robert Langdon, of course) is 100 Cantos of pure literary genius--the Divine Comedy. And more specifically, the first 33 Cantos, otherwise known as Inferno.
I know, I know. Dan Brown is no friend of the Church, and sadly that hasn't changed in this book. But he can write a cheesy page turner that weaves in art, history, architecture, literature, and some of my favorite cities like no one else--at least no one else I've read. High literature it is not. The plot, like others before, is wacky and extremely far-fetched. A lark! But I quite enjoyed it. It's fiction, people! No matter what the author himself claims. Call it a guilty pleasure.
I will soon return to the great book, resuming our trek through the Bible--restarting at the Book of Tobit.
I know, I know. Dan Brown is no friend of the Church, and sadly that hasn't changed in this book. But he can write a cheesy page turner that weaves in art, history, architecture, literature, and some of my favorite cities like no one else--at least no one else I've read. High literature it is not. The plot, like others before, is wacky and extremely far-fetched. A lark! But I quite enjoyed it. It's fiction, people! No matter what the author himself claims. Call it a guilty pleasure.
I will soon return to the great book, resuming our trek through the Bible--restarting at the Book of Tobit.
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