(Gn.18:1-15;   Lk.1:46-50,53-55;   Mt.8:5-17)

“Is anything too marvelous for the Lord to do?”

Our theme again is faith.  Do we believe as Abraham, as Mary, as the centurion?  Only such trust will save us.

In our first reading the Lord appears to Abraham.  We have here the marvelous scene of faith being born, being conceived.  Abraham sits patiently, waiting, praying – expectant of the Lord’s return to confirm His word to him.  Then, “looking up, he saw three men nearby.”  There is the Lord before him.  His reaction is one we all must learn to follow: he does not hesitate an instant.  He runs to them, bows before them (even to the ground), and begs them to stay with him that he might serve them.  With haste he has food prepared for them, “and he waited on them under the tree while they ate”; his eyes “like the eyes of a servant on the hand of his master” (Ps.123:2), he watches their every move to be certain they are well pleased.  (In addition to this quote from Psalms, one cannot help but think of Jesus’ words to the church at Laodicea in the Book of Revelation (3:20): “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me.”)

As Abraham sits there gazing at the Lord, He speaks to His servant: “Where is your wife, Sarah?”  Here comes that which Abraham has been longing to hear.  His heart leaps up, and the Lord states His promise in no uncertain terms.  Now Sarah laughs.  But Abraham is no longer laughing.  The Lord tests him with the question, “Why did Sarah laugh?” to show to Abraham that he no longer thinks the promise too marvelous for the Lord to fulfill.  The Lord repeats the promise.  Abraham believes to the depths of his soul; He knows the word spoken to him is of truth.  And he shall take his wife in fruitful embrace.

How appropriate to hear Mary’s Magnificat in our daily bread, she who is the handmaiden of the Lord, who believed the words of the angel and so found the greatest blessing of the Lord and the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham.  How like Mary, the model of all the faithful, has her father Abraham come to be.

And, of course, our gospel finds Jesus marveling at the faith of the Roman centurion, greater than any He has found in Israel.  It bodes well that all of faith shall be found at table in the kingdom of God, but we must heed Jesus’ warning that “the natural heirs will be driven out.”  For we are the heirs of the Israelites.  As Catholics we now hold the covenant.  We have the apostolic succession, the sacraments, the teaching – all the gifts are ours.  But have we the faith necessary to gain entrance into His kingdom; are we prepared to come to His table and dine with Him who feeds us with the food of everlasting life?  Do we believe?  This question the Lord puts on all our souls.  How shall we answer?

*******

O LORD, let us be quick to serve you

and you will make a place for us in your kingdom.

YHWH, instill faith in our very souls, the faith of Abraham and Mary, the faith the centurion shows even though he is not of your people.  And we shall bear fruit in abundance; and your mercy shall be known to the ends of the earth.

Though our hearts be old and withered, O LORD, though we be beyond the age of giving birth, yet you come to us in your mercy and make us fruitful in your NAME.  And so, what should we do but praise you?  How ready we should be to obey your commands!

Look upon your servants in our lowliness.  We are not worthy to have you come under our roof, yet your Son you give to us as our very food.  We indeed should feed you, O God, but it is you who provide for our needs; by your hand we are fed each day at the table of sacrifice – we who have been so far from your face, you heal and bring near by a word from your mouth, and so we praise you in joy.

(Gn.17:1,9-10,15-22;   Ps.128:1-5;   Mt.8:1-4) 

“Can Sarah give birth at ninety?”

Abraham laughs to himself as he asks the question; and indeed many scoff at the idea today, or simply choose to reason the possibility away.  And can a leper be made clean in an instant, just by a touch of Jesus’ hand and the words “Be cured”?  Is the arm of God, who created the universe, somehow shortened to such miracles?  Why do we think it so?  Wherefore our lack of faith?

God appears to this ninety-nine-year-old man and tells him whose wife is barren, in the words of our psalm: “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the recesses of your home; your children like olive plants around your table.”  And Abraham laughs.  (As will Sarah, too, upon hearing such news – thus the name of their child Isaac: “he laughs”.)  It’s an understandable reaction.  Who would not find the thought humorous?  But Abraham does something more than laugh: he also “prostrates himself” before the Lord, face to the floor.  How many of our modern scoffers would do such as this?  It is human to question, to doubt; but it is godly to humble oneself in faith.  There is a world of difference between a laugh of wonder and the scoffing of the skeptic.  The latter shall remain barren, never finding the living water that would make him fertile and fruitful; the former by his fear of the Lord opens himself to His favor, to His blessing – and such life-giving breath of blessing will make him bear fruit abundantly.

This humble faith is perfectly evident in the leper as well, and is indeed the catalyst of his healing.  We are told the leper “came forward and did Him homage” – falling on his face like Abraham – and said to the Lord, “If you will to do so, you can cure me.”  First he shows humility, he shows fear of the Lord; then he expresses his faith.  Simply put, he believes in the power of God.  And so he is healed.  He is made whole, more whole indeed than the Pharisees and priests who stand by calculating how this can be.

God does not come to the proud.  He does not show Himself to the self-righteous.  He cannot.  They refuse Him at every turn.  To the humble of heart, to the poor in spirit, the Lord is present – and His blessings they receive.  And miraculous are they beyond what the eye can see.   Amen.

*******

O LORD, free us from all our disease

by a word from your mouth,

as we bow humbly before you. 

YHWH, by a word from your mouth the barren womb bears fruit; by a word from your mouth we are healed.  Our reproach, our leprosy, is taken from those who come to you in faith, who bow before you in humility.  Only in this way are we saved – only in this way are our lives of any worth.

In wonder we look upon your works, O LORD, in wonder and thanksgiving.  How can we not give you praise for your blessings upon us?  If we fear you and the hand you stretch forth to redeem our souls, we shall indeed know your blessings upon us through all generations.

Laughter you put into our mouths, dear LORD, as we look upon your hand at work.  What joy you bring to the tired soul by your grace living amongst us!  Though we seemed at the point of death, though disease had taken hold – you have freed us to walk with you… in all our days your will is done.

(Tb.12:1,5-15,20;   Tb.13:1-2,6;   Mk.12:38-44) 

“Almsgiving saves one from death.”

We must give alms, yes; and the greatest of alms is the gift of ourselves to God.

In our gospel we hear of perhaps the most famous example of almsgiving: the poor widow who gave her two copper coins to the temple treasury; and in our first reading we complete the Book of Tobit, he who is himself a great biblical model of almsgiving, and who is here instructed by the angel Raphael on the merit of giving alms.  Yes, the widow gives generously all her money, without hesitation and without a thought.  Unlike those who give from their surplus, “she gave from her want, all that she had to live on.”  She holds back nothing.  And at the prompting of Tobit, Tobiah offers half of all the many riches gained from his journey to his guide, Raphael (not realizing he is an angel with no need of these things). 

As Raphael reveals himself to Tobit and his son, he extols the great merit of almsgiving, which he states is better even than prayer and fasting.  He wishes to tell them of the value of almsgiving, it is true, but he wants Tobit to know that his generosity has been witnessed by God and that it has saved him from the death he had asked for.  Raphael lets Tobit know, too, that he has been tested by God (in being stricken with blindness) to prove that his generosity is genuine.  It must be shown that his virtue is not vain as the scribes’, who “recite long prayers for appearance’ sake” to cover the fact that they “devour the savings of widows.”  Does he have the heart of the poor widow in his generosity, or does he just like to parade around in the robes of such virtue?

The key to the merit of all our almsgiving is found in Raphael’s initial response to Tobiah’s offer:  “Thank God!  Give Him the praise and the glory.”  All our good works must be done for the praise of God as witnesses to His glory.  “Before all men, honor and proclaim God’s deeds, and do not be slack in praising Him,” the angel exhorts us all.  And it is this praise of God we must give first before any treasure of the world.  This praise of God and telling of His Name is the greatest of almsgiving.  Do you think it is the two coins which save the widow, or can you see the heart for God from which they are offered?  Do you think the widow is giving her coins for show, or is it obvious to you that it is her love of God which drives her to this act?  We can easily surmise that this woman’s life is one of prayer to God, a genuine prayer unlike the vanity of the scribes, and it is this which most pleases God and saves her very soul; for she is empty of all else but Him.  And of all the many acts of kindness Tobit has performed, all the dead he has buried and offerings he has given, perhaps none is above his obedience to the angel’s final command:  “Write down all these things that have happened to you.”  For by his laying down of his life and the Lord’s marvelous grace working in it, more than two thousand years later, we still receive the spiritual gifts contained therein; his praise of God with “full voice” still comes to our ears and gives us hope that we too might be raised up from any vanity in our own generosity and see the face of God.

Let us praise the Lord with all our lives and give all our selves to Him. 

Let us live to praise the Lord.

*******

O LORD, let us praise you with full voice;

let us give all we have to you.

YHWH, you call us to give alms that our souls might be saved.  By our generosity you shall know us, if it is in union with you.  For all must be done in your NAME and for your praise, or all is quite worthless.  Indeed, a little with righteousness is better than abundance with wickedness; and so, whatever we give without giving glory to you is given in vain, but if we give a penny (which is all our lives are worth) in praise of your goodness toward us, how blessed we shall be!

LORD, all you do is for our good, whether you scourge us or raise us up in your mercy, for all is done to bring us closer to you.  Until all our lives are in your hands, your angel you send to test us and to heal us, to turn us back to you – all empty show be taken forever from our souls that we might dwell humbly with you in glory.

Let us not care for the riches of this world even should they increase, but set our hearts on praise of you alone… and the doing of your will with all we have and are.

(Tb.11:5-15;   Ps.146:2,7-10;   Mk.12:35-37)

“The Lord gives sight to the blind.”

Now in His teaching Jesus truly begins to open the eyes of the people.  We have witnessed this week His fielding their questions regarding theology and the law, but He now takes a step further, revealing to them and to us the Truth itself – that He Himself is the Son of God.  “The majority of the crowd heard this with delight.”  Many eyes begin to open, many hearts begin to see… but will they remain so joyful when Jesus reveals Himself to them completely (on the cross)?

And of course, our first reading speaks principally about the opening of Tobit’s eyes, as he who has been blind these four years is healed by the fish gall acquired through the intercession of the angel Raphael.  But the reading is really about more than this: it shows the love of his parents in their longing for Tobiah’s return.  Notice that as his eyes are opened, Tobit exclaims, “I can see you, son, the light of my eyes!” as he weeps with his arms around him.  And at the very beginning of the reading we find Anna, his mother, “watching the road,” looking desperately – she has been there for weeks – for Tobiah to return from his journey.  When she sees him, she, too, throws her arms around him, and says, “Now that I have seen you again, son, I am ready to die!” as she sobs aloud…  It is not so much the fish gall that has cured Tobit’s blindness, for the light of his eyes, that which causes them to see, he himself ascribes to Tobiah his son.  And it is not so much seeing Tobiah that brings such absolute joy to his mother, as it is being with him again, knowing that he is alive – for she had seriously feared him dead.

Brothers and sisters, are we like Anna and Tobit?  Do we watch vigilantly for the return of the only Son of God?  We proclaim that our eyes have been opened to know Him as our Savior, but is He truly the light of our eyes?  Even today do we make seeing Him and knowing Him the life that brings breath to our souls and makes our hearts beat?  Are we the “oppressed,” the “hungry,” the “captives” – those who are “bowed down” of whom our psalm speaks – who will thus know His “justice,” His “food,” His “freedom”… His “resurrection”?

We must love dearly our Holy Catholic Church, for it is essential here on this earth, where it is the keeper of the Father’s vineyard; but we must remember Jesus goes beyond religion, beyond theology and laws.  For He is more than these.  He is what sets us apart from any other religion, for He is a person, the second Person of the Trinity – God.  Let us open our eyes and our hearts and follow Him with our lives, knowing He is our only Son, our hope, the light of our eyes.  For He who is the Son of Man is also the Son of God.

*******

O LORD, open my eyes

that I might praise you forever.

YHWH, it is you who give sight to the blind, you who set captives free.  Your Son is indeed light to our eyes and salvation for our very souls.  Give us new life that we might praise you all the day.

You keep faith with us, O LORD, for though we wait many days, though we must hope even in the darkness, you do not disappoint our expectations – you do not take back your Word.  Your Son has come among us now and revealed your glory to our eyes.  He who lived before us has been born into our midst and died for our sakes.  Now His enemies become His footstool.  Now His reign has begun.  And those who have longed for His coming rejoice in praise of your holy NAME.

O may He return soon to us!  For blindness besets us yet while we dwell upon this plane.  Send your angels to bring Him back to us, O LORD, that forever we might look upon His face.  Give us courage now; raise up the souls that are bowed down.  Alleluia!

(Tb.6:11,7:1,9-14,8:4-7;   Ps.128:1-5;   Mk.12:28-34) 

“Love the Lord your God”

and

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

On these two great commandments rest all the Law and the Prophets.  By them we shall be “not far from the reign of God.”  In them the Lord leads us into His bridal chamber, where we shall be made one with Him in glory forever. 

Here on earth we dimly mirror the love of the Lord for His Church in our marriage of husband and wife; in this, love of neighbor is known in its most intimate and complete way.  But always love of God must precede love of any creature, for it is “those who fear the Lord” who are happy, who “eat the fruit of [their] handiwork” and see their children prosper.      

Tobiah has such love.  Such strength of love does he have in his heart for Sarah that he hesitates not at all even in the face of death.  Seven have died before him, but he gives fear of this not a thought.  And it is not in his lust that he takes such great strength; he is not led foolishly by his eyes and his loins.  It is indeed his fear of the Lord, the love for his God and his desire to keep His commands, in which he finds unwavering hope.  Even from his marriage bed does he rise to invoke the name of God, demonstrating his “noble purpose.”  He recognizes that God first must be praised, and that it is He who gave Adam his Eve.

Jesus loves us just so, brothers and sisters, and even greater than this is His love for His bride.  He heeds fully the command of God regarding His Church: “Take her and bring her back safely to your father.”  He comes to us, as it were, on a long journey, the angels of the Lord blessing His steps, and seeks without fear His rightful wife, who has languished so long surrounded by death.  This death He takes upon Himself, facing it with faith and prayer alone to show us the love God has for us, and that we must have for one another.  And wedding us unto Himself, He redeems us from the death we have known and makes us so fruitful in His Name.  Yes, brothers and sisters, we must love the God who has loved us so, and love one another the same.

May God bless all marriages;

May they witness to the love the Lord has for His Church.

Amen.

*******

O LORD, if we but love you and our neighbor,

all will be well;

we will approach the kingdom of Heaven.

YHWH, you are love and love is stronger than death; so those who love you shall conquer death and live forever in your love.  O let us but love!

The demons are ever round about, dear LORD, working to take the life from us, the life that is rooted in you and blessed by you – the life which you yourself are.  Let us have your angels to guide us through the darkness of this earth to your unending light; teach us to love you with all our being, to keep nothing back from you.  By our trust and in our prayer may we be saved from all evil.  If we but praise you with all our heart, you will certainly hear our plea.

No lust let there be in any marriage bed, O LORD, but may every husband take his wife with you and your purpose in mind.  Then shall all be blessed; then shall all creation praise you… then shall love be known to the ends of the earth.  Then shall all the devils flee and your kingdom come to be present in all souls.  Let us take our place in Heaven with you and your Son!  To Him let us be wed.

(Tb.3:1-11,16-17;   Ps.25:1-9;   Mk.12:18-27) 

“He is the God of the living, not of the dead.”

Rich readings.  First of all, we see the striking similarity between the story woven by the Sadducees to thwart the wisdom of the Lord and the situation in which Sarah finds herself.  In both cases, seven – the number representing fullness – husbands have died.  In one the wife has also died; in the other, she wishes for death.  And in both there have been no children, no fruit, no new life.  Death in its fullness is throughout today’s readings, as even Tobit begs to die.

In addition to death, our readings are also clearly about prayer.  In our first, Tobit and Sarah pour out their hearts in tears before the Lord whom they so love.  Our psalm is the lifting up of the soul in prayer to God by the humble.  And the Sadducees questioning of Jesus is also a kind of prayer, though one which comes from a hardness of heart, inauthentic and insincere.

And what has the Lord to say of death; what is the answer to these prayers?  We often hear that God always answers our prayers, though often in ways we do not expect.  Such is the case here.  Neither Tobit nor Sarah will get the death they seem to seek; instead, Raphael – the angel whose name means “to heal” – “was sent to heal them both.”  And the Sadducees, “who hold there is no resurrection,” will not find confirmation for their creed which clings to death as the end of all.  Yet all will be answered according to the disposition of their hearts, and in this sense all receive exactly what they seek, for the Lord looks upon the heart.  The prayer of Tobit and Sarah is not really to die but “to be delivered from such anguish” – it is healing they seek, and this they shall find.  And the Sadducees, who do not really seek an answer of the Lord regarding resurrection, whose hearts are closed to the life-giving power of God, will likely not hear the words of Christ… and so by their ignorance come to adhere more firmly to their creed of death. 

We do get what we ask for.  As our psalm tells us, the Lord “teaches the humble His way.”  The compassion and kindness which are synonymous with God are known to those who trust in Him; but “those shall be put to shame who heedlessly break faith,” for the compassion of our Lord finds no place in them.  For them there is no hope, no life, no resurrection from the dead… and they shall not know how God answers prayer.

Brothers and sisters, let us pour out our hearts before our Lord and God, and know His healing grace, and find His everlasting life.    

*******

O LORD, though we wish to die

when amidst the persecutions of this race,

let us be resurrected with you.

YHWH, hear our prayer and save us from the insults of your enemies.  Let us not be overcome by darkness or by sin.  You are our God and you answer all our pleas; let us not be put to shame.

You look upon the heart, O LORD, and listen to our true desires.  Every prayer you cannot help but answer according to the faith by which it is offered.  You give us what we ask for, not in our words but by our intention.  And so, you thwart the insincere prayer of the wicked, but are merciful to those who are humble before you.

And you protect us, LORD, from every attack of the devil.  Those who break faith heedlessly shall not triumph over your righteous ones; they shall be turned back by the power of your Word.  For in life alone you dwell – in you there is no death – and so those whose hearts desire life in your presence shall rejoice… even as those who do not believe fall helplessly into the earth.

(Tb.2:9-14;   Ps.112:1-2,7-9;   Mk.12:13-17)

“The heart of the just man is secure,

trusting in the Lord.”

Today in our reading and gospel we find just men put to trial and testing.  Our Lord is steadfast before the devious inquiry of the Pharisees and Herodians, answering them with a wisdom greater than Solomon’s; for what can Jesus, who is Himself the Word made flesh, do but take refuge in the Father with whom He is one.  And so wisdom is His to answer His foes, and He is unmoved, indeed moving with “amazement” those who would trap Him.

The heart of Tobit does not remain as secure.  We see in his anger that his trust in the Lord has been shaken.  He has always been just, generously giving to those in need, taking the plight of his people to heart.  Indeed, it is after performing a good work – “fatigued from burying the dead [I] went to sleep next to the wall of my courtyard” – that his trial comes upon him.  Here is a man who has done all he could to help his fellow Jewish exiles suffering persecution at the hands of the Ninevites, and now he is stricken with blindness.

But the Lord does not leave him alone; He does not cast him out.  For two years his needs are cared for by Ahiqar, and then his wife is able to work to meet their expenses.  And successful she is over and above expectations.  Yet he is prodded into anger by her good reward.  His response (in the words of St. Dorotheus, from today’s Office of Readings) “breaks the cover on the passionate anger within him,” an anger, an unease, he has likely been harboring for some time.  It is an anger, we can surmise, that comes from the helplessness his blindness has brought upon him.  He is no longer in control of his fate, but must depend on others for survival.  And though the Lord provides, he finds it too difficult to trust in this provision.  (He may indeed be particularly resentful that it is now his wife who provides for him, taking the role he believes in his heart he should play.)

We can certainly understand Tobit’s frustration over his condition.  Few but Jesus would stand up well to such trial.  But Jesus is our ideal.  It is to be like Him that we are called.  We shall always need to do battle against the sins that are ever with us, but as St. Dorotheus says of the Christian, “The more perfect he grows, the less these temptations will affect him.  For the more the soul advances, the stronger and more powerful it becomes in bearing the difficulties that it meets.” 

Let us set ourselves to trust in the Lord and so ever find security in Him. We must place all in His hands, even unto death, and then we shall be free. 

Let not the things of Caesar weigh upon you;

you belong to God and not the world.

*******

O LORD, only you can make us secure –

let us trust in you and not in money.

YHWH, with the things of this earth let us not be concerned; let us know that we are in your hands.  To you let us trust our very lives, and we shall not be disturbed.

The forces of the world close in on us, enticing us to fear and anger.  But if we stand strong in the faith, the Spirit will be with us to save us.  In you, O LORD, let us remain.

The just man delights in your commands; the upright shall ever be blessed.  Let us indeed remain steadfast, LORD, that we might look down upon our foes.

And though persecuted for righteousness’ sake, if afflicted for doing what is right let us not resent our fate, but continue to look to you to cure our blindness.  Your Son, O LORD, has suffered the Cross though innocent – why should sinners like us complain?

It is hard, LORD, and we do often break, but help us to return to you this day and stand before our accusers with the same faith your Son so peacefully displayed.  Let us give ourselves entirely to you.

Our lot in this world is one of suffering and persecution, but it is not without hope.  For we know that as Job found greater wealth in his latter days and Tobit shall be rewarded for his patient endurance, so the Lord is resurrected from the grave.  It is our psalm which reminds us of this promise despite any darkness around us: “The Lord dawns through the darkness, a light for the upright… the just man shall be in everlasting remembrance.”

So let us not lose heart on the hard road we tread, but endure all patiently with Jesus, for we shall find our place in His joyful kingdom; we shall drink the wine of His vineyard.

*******

O LORD, how shamefully your servants are treated! –

but Jesus rises from the dead,

and we with Him.

YHWH, you are a light in our darkness; you are with us in our tears and in our mourning, and so, from our graves we are raised.  Has not your Son come among us and suffered at the hands of men?  Has He not been beaten, dragged outside the walls of Jerusalem, and killed?  And has He not been raised again – does He not sit at your right hand?  The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.  How marvelous are your works for your faithful to behold!

Though Tobit weeps in exile, LORD, mocked by neighbors and friends, though he must bear the murdered body of his kinsman to a shallow grave; yet wealth and riches are in his house, for it is in your House he dwells, and his name you shall remember forever.

Your Son bears His Cross before His accusers; though blessed at table in your House, He quickly comes to us at your Word… and we bear Him away.  But the plans of men are thwarted by you, LORD, and all our evil you turn to good.  Let us set our souls on the sacrifice of your kingdom.