Friday 9 June 2023

Today is Friday the 9th of June, in the ninth week of Ordinary time.

One Hope Project sings, ‘Abba Father’.



Abba Father breathe on me
Wash me in Your glory
When faith is frail You carry me
In Your presence I am free




Today’s reading is a very long passage from the Book of Tobit, so we’ll only hear it once.

Tobit 11:5-17


Meanwhile, Anna sat looking intently down the road by which her son would come. When she caught sight of him coming, she said to his father, ‘Look, your son is coming, and the man who went with him!’

Raphael said to Tobias, before he had approached his father, ‘I know that his eyes will be opened. Smear the gall of the fish on his eyes; the medicine will make the white films shrink and peel off from his eyes, and your father will regain his sight and see the light.’

Then Anna ran up to her son and threw her arms around him, saying, ‘Now that I have seen you, my child, I am ready to die.’ And she wept. Then Tobit got up and came stumbling out through the courtyard door. Tobias went up to him, with the gall of the fish in his hand, and holding him firmly, he blew into his eyes, saying, ‘Take courage, father.’ With this he applied the medicine on his eyes, and it made them smart. Next, with both his hands he peeled off the white films from the corners of his eyes. Then Tobit saw his son and threw his arms around him, and he wept and said to him, ‘I see you, my son, the light of my eyes!’ Then he said,

‘Blessed be God,
and blessed be his great name,
and blessed be all his holy angels.
May his holy name be blessed
throughout all the ages.
Though he afflicted me,
he has had mercy upon me.
Now I see my son Tobias!’

So Tobit went in rejoicing and praising God at the top of his voice. Tobias reported to his father that his journey had been successful, that he had brought the money, that he had married Raguel’s daughter Sarah, and that she was, indeed, on her way there, very near to the gate of Nineveh.

Then Tobit, rejoicing and praising God, went out to meet his daughter-in-law at the gate of Nineveh. When the people of Nineveh saw him coming, walking along in full vigour and with no one leading him, they were amazed. Before them all, Tobit acknowledged that God had been merciful to him and had restored his sight. When Tobit met Sarah the wife of his son Tobias, he blessed her saying, ‘Come in, my daughter, and welcome. Blessed be your God who has brought you to us, my daughter. Blessed be your father and your mother, blessed be my son Tobias, and blessed be you, my daughter. Come in now to your home, and welcome, with blessing and joy. Come in, my daughter.’ So on that day there was rejoicing among all the Jews who were in Nineveh.

Do you know the story? Tobias has been on a journey, accompanied by an incognito angel, Raphael, to find a cure for his blind father. We join them in time for the happy outcome. What was it in this story that struck you on first hearing it?

One note that runs through the passage is praise of God. Everyone involved praises God when they see what has happened. What events in your own life most naturally lead you into praise of God?

Closely linked to this idea of praising God is rejoicing. Of all that God is doing in your own life and in the world around you today, what do you most want to rejoice in?

Tobit reacts to being healed by saying: “May God’s holy name be blessed throughout all the ages.” You may wish to finish this prayer by blessing, praising and thanking God in your own words for all the good things that you yourself have been given.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.