(Listen to this homily here).
I hope you all learned an important lesson from our first
reading today: never sleep under birds!
Indeed, this is what we heard Tobit report: “I did not know there were birds perched on the wall above me, till
their warm droppings settled in my eyes, causing cataracts.”
Now
this passage may seem strange, but the basic point is that Tobit, a good and
righteous man, had something terrible happen to him. Remember from yesterday how Tobit buried the dead? Now a tragedy takes place!
The
book of Tobit shares in story-form one of the perennial questions of man: why
do good people suffer? We will see
how not only Tobit, but also his future sister-in-law Sarah are freed from
their suffering by God.
I
preached a couple of weeks ago about how we respond when bad things happen to
us. Might I suggest reading the
book of Tobit today? (It’s
short!) Read the lives of the
saints and martyrs. Find
inspiration in those who faced suffering well—innocently—to be strengthened to
face anything life may bring you.
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