Monday of Week 9 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Tobit 1:3,2:1-8 | Psalm 111(112):1-2,3b-6 | Mark 12:1-12
Saint Boniface, Bishop, Martyr
Acts 26:19-23 | Psalm 116(117):1-2 | John 10:11-16
At our feast of Pentecost (the feast of Weeks) there was a good dinner. I took my place for the meal; the table was brought to me and various dishes were brought. Then I said to my son Tobias, ‘Go, my child, and seek out some poor, loyal-hearted man among our brothers exiled in Nineveh, and bring him to share my meal. I will wait until you come back, my child.’ (Tobit 2:1-2)
Hospitality figures prominently in Holy Scripture. The most obvious example is that of the Good Samaritan, but Tobit too is worthy of emulation.
Banished from Nineveh for daring to bury his countrymen who were slain by the previous king, he’d only just been reunited with his wife, his son, and his riches. Yet, in his happiness, he thought to share his joy with the less fortunate.
Can we be even half as generous as Tobit?
Are we even willing to part with an insignificant fraction of our wealth and time, to be two-bit Tobits?
Imagine what an army of two-bit Tobits could accomplish, to ease the suffering and pain of those around us.
What’s stopping us?
Perhaps it’s, as Archbishop mentioned in his exhortation yesterday, our lack of community spirit, a distressing development for Catholics steeped in the words of love.
Or perhaps we immerse ourselves so thoroughly in our daily activities, that we fail to notice the poor and disadvantaged in our midst?
Surely we can do better.
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In another sad nod to Tobit, let us pray for the families in London who will be burying their loved ones soon, lost to the irrational hatred that corrupted faith visits upon us all.
Lord, You are author of Life and Love, not of destruction and hatred. Help us see others around us as worthy of Love, even those who do not acknowledge You. Help us stand firm against those who would corrupt and convince others that there is an unbridgeable gulf between “faithful” and “heathen”. Show us the way to conversion of hardened hearts through Love, that all mankind may one day understand and appreciate Your boundless Mercy. Amen.