This week we are reading the Book of Tobit in the First Reading at Mass. As the introduction of the New American Bible attests, "the Book of Tobit is usually listed with the historical books but it more correctly stands midway between them and the wisdom literature. It contains numerous maxims like those found in the wisdom books as well as the customary sapiential themes: fidelity to the law, the intercessory function of angels, piety toward parents, the purity of marriage, reverence for the dead, and the value of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting." For more information on this beautiful and edifying story , you can click here.
The reading today speaks of Tobit’s practice of burying his dead kinsmen despite the prohibitions of the law.
At first glance it seems that the need for this act of charity is passè and yet, come to think of it, the news which I got from zenit.org today goes: "A Chaldean priest and three deacons were shot and killed after Sunday Mass in front of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul. AsiaNews.it identified the priest as Father Ragheed Ganni, 34, the pastor of Holy Spirit, located in the Nur district of the northern Iraqi city. Sources told AsiaNews that the bodies lay abandoned on the street today because no one dared to go and recover them, given the tension of the situation."
With heavy heart I come to understand how real is Tobit's story even up to now, given such a torn world as ours. How much we all need to pray and work that things could change!
The reading today speaks of Tobit’s practice of burying his dead kinsmen despite the prohibitions of the law.
At first glance it seems that the need for this act of charity is passè and yet, come to think of it, the news which I got from zenit.org today goes: "A Chaldean priest and three deacons were shot and killed after Sunday Mass in front of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul. AsiaNews.it identified the priest as Father Ragheed Ganni, 34, the pastor of Holy Spirit, located in the Nur district of the northern Iraqi city. Sources told AsiaNews that the bodies lay abandoned on the street today because no one dared to go and recover them, given the tension of the situation."
With heavy heart I come to understand how real is Tobit's story even up to now, given such a torn world as ours. How much we all need to pray and work that things could change!
