Monthly Archives: June 2017

Saturday of Week 9 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Tobit 12:1,5-15,20 | Tobit 13:2,6-8 | Mark 12:38-44

Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘I tell you solemnly, this poor widow has put more in than all who have contributed to the treasury; for they have all put in money they had over, but she from the little she had has put in everything she possessed, all she had to live on.’ (Mark 12:43-44)

How much are we willing to give to God?

The leftovers, a whole 2 minutes after work and nightly TV, or just before falling asleep in bed? That’s easy.

Actually setting aside a “tithe” of time for our Creator? That’s a little more difficult.

How far are we willing to go to help the less fortunate?

Volunteer vacations, where other folks figure out the logistics, and I just lend a hand in teaching personal hygiene or erecting a small shack, to the obvious joy of the beneficiaries? Sign me up!

Helping out at a hospice, where a pervading sense of doom undercuts whatever good I try to do, and I’m never quite sure if my cheerful demeanor is actually hurting those who are simply waiting to die? Um…

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

I wish I could say that there’s a simple solution to all that.

I wish I could say “there’s an app for that!”

I’m still figuring out my own answers, but I’d like to think that I’ll be a lot closer to the poor widow in the end.

Lord, make me know Your ways, teach me Your paths. Guide my very self to love and serve my neighbors, so that all may know and love You. Amen.

Friday of Week 9 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Tobit 11:5-17 | Psalm 145(146):2,7-10 | Mark 12:35-37

Blessed be God!
Blessed be his great name!
Blessed be all his holy angels!
Blessed be his great name for evermore! (Tobit 11:14)

When was the last time we gave thanks and praise to God of our own volition?

Not as part of our weekly Eucharistic obligation.

Not as part of some organized Holy Hour, or prayer session, or other congregation.

Alone, in the hustle and bustle of modern life.

Alone, while besieged by noisy children and adults on our daily journeys.

Alone, in the quiet depths of our hearts, the place where God knows us truly and thoroughly.

What stops us from praising God without end?

✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞

Tobit’s exclamation reminds me of the Divine Praises that we sing after the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. While recalling the words, I realized that there’s no logical reason to confine the words to Eucharistic adoration, and every reason to remind ourselves frequently of the authors and collaborators in our salvation.

The Holy Trinity. Mother Mary. St. Joseph, the angels and saints. All deserve our love and thanksgiving.

So, brothers and sisters, let us pray these words often, and with as much fervour as Tobit did after regaining his sight.

Because in blessing all that is holy, we too are blessed.

Blessed be God.
Blessed be His Holy Name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.
Blessed be the Name of Jesus.
Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart.
Blessed be His Most Precious Blood.
Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most Holy.
Blessed be her Holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her Glorious Assumption.
Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.
Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse.
Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints.

Amen.

Thursday of Week 9 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Tobit 6:10-11,7:1,9-14,8:4-9 | Psalm 127(128):1-5 | Mark 12:28-34

O blessed are those who fear the Lord
and walk in his ways! (Psalm 128:1)

What sort of god is the Lord, who asks us to fear Him?

The sort who is our Father, that’s who.

But what does it mean to fear a parent?

Certainly not the fear that precedes death or misfortune.

Instead, it’s the fear borne out of love and respect, a palpable awe of our Creator, a deep-seated unwillingness to displease He who has been our refuge and strength from our earliest days.

It’s this love-streaked fear that compelled Tobias and Sarah to beseech the Lord for His grace and protection.

It’s this all-encompassing love that Jesus reminds us is the first and greatest commandment.

It’s the fruit of our tremendous respect for God, that yields in turn the fruits of faith from His generous hands, as the psalmist reminds us.

Amen, I say to you, brothers and sisters.

Amen.

Wednesday of Week 9 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Tobit 3:1-11,16-17 | Psalm 24(25):2-9 | Mark 12:18-27

‘so now, do with me as you will’ (Tobit 3:6)

How often do we let God have His way in our lives?

When we run up against obstacles on our journey, how often do we surrender ourselves to Him and ask Him for His guidance?

Tobit and Sarah show us two different yet distressingly familiar perspectives in dealing with unbearable circumstances. Both ask God to take their lives, weary of their affliction.

The younger Sarah, though, first contemplates going her own way, and taking her own life. Too many youths today also think of it as a quick and easy way to end their pain. She pulls back from the brink after realizing how her death would only prolong the suffering of her loved ones; I hope and pray that more of her modern contemporaries will do the same.

Tobit, long in years, leaves it in the hands of God, recognizing that his life is His to dispose of as He wills it. Jesus later teaches his disciples, and us through scripture, to believe the same:

Our Father in heaven, may your name be held holy,
your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven (Matthew 6:9-10)

and He practised what He preached, during His darkest hour at Gethsemane:

And going on a little further he fell on his face and prayed. ‘My Father,’ he said ‘if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Nevertheless, let it be as you, not I, would have it.’ (Matthew 26:39)

In these troubled times, it’s even more important to surrender to the will of God, that He may show us the road of salvation that He’s already mapped out for us. As today’s psalm reminds us:

Good and upright is the Lord
He shows us the way
He guides the meek to justice,
He teaches the humble to follow His ways

To You, O Lord, I lift up
I lift up my soul, my God

Amen.

Tuesday of Week 9 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Tobit 2:9-14 | Psalm 111(112):1-2,7-9 | Mark 12:13-17

‘What about your own alms? What about your own good works? Everyone knows what return you have had for them.’ (Tobit 2:14)

Tomorrow, two people I know will make their final journey here on earth. Both are mothers:

one contracted an infection while in hospital for an unrelated procedure, and quickly succumbed to the twin ravages of old age and pneumonia,

but the other leaves behind three teenage sons and a grieving father, struggling to cope with the loss of his beloved after a long illness, and now having to raise one special-needs almost-adult by himself.

Anna’s rebuke of her husband certainly stung Tobit, probably more than the bird droppings that blinded him. It’s hard not to connect this to my friend’s sufferings; after many years of serving God faithfully, he’s now in such a difficult position.

I’m sure many former Catholics have left the faith for the same reason. “What kind of God is this, who rewards my loyalty with pain and suffering?!?!”

I think an answer lies in today’s Gospel, when Jesus reminds us to:

‘Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar – and to God what belongs to God.’ (Mark 12:17)

So what exactly belongs to God? In a nutshell: Love, faithfulness, and praise.

That’s pretty much all He’s ever asked of us, but we have problems giving Him even that little, when we unconsciously give priority to our worldly cares.

This world wants us to be materially rich, to accumulate more belongings than we know what to do with, all the better to assert our superiority over others.

This world wants us to achieve our riches through deliberate quashing of our rivals, competitors in a zero-sum game that defies the logic of cooperative love.

This world wants us to be self-centered.

Yet I believe Jesus is telling us: Why not give back to the world what belongs to the world?

Why not give back the temptation to pursue personal gain at the expense of others?

Why not give back the lust for possessions for which we have no need?

Why not give back the “me against the world” attitude?

And what would we give back to God then, in the person of our brothers and sisters?

Why not give back the love He so freely gave us, lending our resources, our time, and our talents to those who need help?

Why not give back the faithfulness He demonstrated to us through the Passion of His only Son, by going just a little out of our way to befriend the lost in spirit, drawing them back into community both during Sunday Eucharist and the weekdays in between?

Why not give back the praise He’s due, making an effort to open our hearts during worship at mass, letting go of all our reluctance and clock-watching, just to look at the Body and Blood of Christ and truly see Him therein?

Tobit was a good man who suffered a lot, but he also stayed the course of faithfulness and love despite his temporal suffering. We can but follow his example, and the example of all the faithful whose deeds are records in holy scripture.

Amen.