Thursday of the 9th week in Ordinary Time
Readings of the day: Tobit 6:10-11, 7:1bcde, 9-17, 8:4-9a; Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5; Mark 12:28-34
How many of us enjoy reading novels? I am more of a non-fiction than fiction reader, even when reading for pleasure, outside of studies or spiritual reading. And yet one of my brother Basilian priests I have lived with in community will often announce, as he is going to bed at night, that he will go and enjoy some of his “trashy novel” before falling asleep. Whether he is actually about to read a novel or the quality of the novel are irrelevant; the humorous effect of the “trashy novel” announcement is what matters.
The Book of Tobit is among a few legend or “novelette”-type books of the Bible. And, if I dare say, although I am no expert on Tobit, the more I read and pray with Tobit, the more this book fascinates me. Certainly Tobit is no “trashy novel”; it is a legendary yet profound story of love, of suffering, of mercy, and of God’s presence in all these events surrounding Tobit, his family, and his people of Israel who are in exile in Babylon.
Today, within the Book of Tobit, we are treated to what I think is one of the Bible’s most beautiful prayers: That of Sarah, daughter of Edna and Raguel, and Tobiah, son of Tobit, as they are about to go to bed on the night of their wedding. If we follow Tobit, we know that Sarah’s and Tobiah’s wedding night was no time for either of them to read themselves to sleep with a “trashy novel.” Sarah had been married seven times before marrying Tobiah. Each time, her husbands had been killed on their wedding night by the “demon Asmodeus.” And so, instead of reading themselves to sleep with novels of dubious quality (or, if this had taken place today, would they have watched television or been surfing the internet on their laptops, tablets, or smartphones?), Sarah and Tobiah pray together. “The angel Raphael,” whose name incidentally means, “God heals,” has already promised to protect Tobiah from meeting the same end as Sarah’s previous seven husbands.
Of course, I have a special reason to love the prayer of Sarah and Tobiah that we hear today. A week from Saturday my sister Deanna and brother-in-law Tyler will celebrate ten years of marriage. The first reading they chose for their wedding celebration included the prayer of Sarah and Tobiah we hear today.
And so, especially for the married couples, future married couples, and everybody among us still discerning prayerfully a possible vocation to marriage, please let me echo the prayer of Sarah and Tobiah for you, perhaps several times between now and when I go to bed tonight. And I suggest that you pray this prayer for one another: “Blessed are you, O God of our fathers, praised be your name forever and ever.” May our God “who made Adam and… gave him his wife Eve to be his help and support” bless and keep our married couples and those who are engaged or discerning marriage. May they be strengthened and kept healthy and happy for the “noble purpose” of reflecting your face; your mercy; your love to one another in a world that often leaves our married and discerning couples feeling “alone,” against your will for your people, O Lord. “Call down your mercy upon” our current and future married couples, “and allow [them] to live together to a happy old age.”
“Amen, amen.”
No comments:
Post a Comment