Life is Worth Living

Having accomplished his mission, when it was time for Angel Raphael to leave, Tobit and his family responded in gratitude (cf. Tobit 12:1.5-15.20). It was within the context of show of appreciation that the angel fully revealed himself as one of the seven holy angels (messengers of God) who present the prayers of the people and enter into the presence of the glory of God. The angel reminded Tobit of all the good things he (Tobit) had done and admonished him and his family to continue to live a life of gratitude.   Gratitude is an attitude of the heart but not locked up in the heart. It must always be expressed. A grateful person must be consumed with love: love for God and love for his neighbour. Tobit’s acts of love and generosity were powerful testimonies to his life of gratitude. Despite the difficulties he faced, he still gave thanks to God by living righteously and generously. No matter how difficult life is to us, we cannot deny the fact that God has been so good to us. And t...

The Jews understood the Christ as the “son of David”, and in that way they expressly made known their timeless expectation of a conquering messiah who would militarily liberate them from the shackles of the Romans. For all intents and purposes, such understanding exposes an image of Christ (the messiah) which is narrow, myopic and limited. From what Jesus said in Mark 12:35-37, we may be right to make this submission: If David called Him “Lord” (cf. Psalm 110), then the Christ must have been greater than David: He is not just his son but his Lord; not just his Lord but His Savior; not just his Savior but his God. Just like the Jews, some of us may have had a poor, shallow or limited understanding of who Jesus is. Such understanding might have come from our personal encounter with Him. But the point that we shouldn't forget is that Jesus is more than what we have known or think He is. Some of us only know Him as a healer, teacher or philanthropist. A true follower of Christ must und...

Love is so powerful. For the sake of love, unimaginable things have been said and done. Isn’t it unthinkable that God could decide to take flesh and become a human being? But He actually took flesh and became man, thanks to love. Won’t it be utterly ridiculous that God would choose to suffer and die in order to save the human race? But He suffered and died for our salvation, thanks to love. We can go on and on! Tobit 6:9-12; 7:1.9-12.16; 8:1.4-9 is a continuation of the story of a woman who couldn’t secure a lasting marriage because of a demon whose stock in trade was to kill any man who ventured into marriage with her. This fact alone should have scared Tobias from thinking of entering into marriage with her. However, propelled by love, Tobias did the unthinkable: he married Sarah; and filled with faith, they recommended themselves to the mercy and protection of God. Without love, we are nothing; without love, we can’t do any good. In 1 Cor. 12:31, St Paul describes love as the “great...

Tobit 3:1-11, 16-17 gives an account of a woman who was mocked and reproached for being responsible for the death of her successive seven husbands who were actually killed by an evil demon. Depressed, confused and dejected, Sarah had to face the ridicule of the world on account of the unfortunate death of the seven husbands. She must have been seen as an agent of death; maybe much more identified with death than with life.    It could be that a mere mention of her name might have sounded like a sad prelude to the news of death, misery and bad luck. In that kind of situation, what concept of “God” would she have had? Would she have had a concept of a God who is God of the living or God of the dead? Your guess is as good as mine. For the Jews, the number 7 suggests finality, completeness or a kind of a dead-end situation. That Sarah’s marital situation was still the same even after marrying “seven” husbands metaphorically speaks about her utter hopeless situation.   But eve...

A breeding ground for violence and anarchy is prepared whenever and wherever there is no justice. Our times can bear witness to that! In a layman’s language, justice is giving each person his or her due while injustice is willfully and maliciously withholding whatever that rightfully belongs to someone or some group. There is an interesting part of Tobit 2:9-14 which must be highlighted. Tobit did not know that the animal he saw roaming around his house was a present given to Anna his wife by her customers. Out of a strict sense of justice, Tobit’s first reaction was that the wife should let the owners have it back. He added, “We have no right to eat stolen goods”.  This part of the narrative is worthy of mention because it highlights a virtue which seems to be very rare in our time: the virtue of justice. We will enjoy more peace and know little or no violence when people begin to toe the path of justice by ensuring that whatever is due to anyone is given or restored to him or her...

There's an old expression that is never trite in usage; a group of words that may appear to be hackneyed but never timeworn; very inspiring and always expressive of complete meaning and sense. In a very beautifully crafted King James English, that expression reads: IRON SHARPENETH IRON. This is what we celebrate today. We call to mind the meeting of two women: an ordinary event which turned out to be an extraordinary flow of events. An ordinary visitation which paved way for a SPECIAL VISITATION OF GOD.   Mary didn't just arise to visit Elizabeth. She visited for a purpose. When you take a quick look at the preceding section of today's gospel reading, it is said that the angel of the Lord informed Mary of the pregnancy of her old relative Elizabeth (cf. Luk 1:36) in order to prove to her that there's nothing impossible for God. After some time, Mary set out to visit Elizabeth: probably not to confirm whether the message of the angel was true or not, for she had already ...

The Blessed Trinity is a mystery: in the sense that it is impossible to fully understand or explain. Instead of wasting time thinking and talking about the logicality of such a mystery, it will be better for us to reflect more on the significance of the reality of the Trinity for us. In the scriptures, we may find some references to the operations and reality of the Trinity. Gen. 1 suggests that the creative work was undertaken by the Trinity. At the beginning of creation, a mighty WIND from God swept across the waters of the deep (and for the Jews, the “WIND” is indicative of the presence of the Spirit). The entire universe was brought into being by the power of God’s Word: LET THERE BE... AND THERE WAS. Who or what is this Word? John 1:1.14 says that “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God; and the Word became flesh and lived among us”. The Word is Jesus, God the Son and the second Person of the Trinity. In Matt 3:16-17, as Jesus emerged from the wa...