So, you will ask me, who then are the people most tempted? They are these, my friends; note them carefully. The people most tempted are those who are ready, with the grace of God, to sacrifice everything for the salvation of their poor souls, who renounce all those things which most people eagerly seek. It is not one devil only who tempts them, but millions seek to entrap them.
-- St. John Vianney
TODAY'S READINGS
June 7, 2017
Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 355
Reading 1TB 3:1-11A, 16-17A
Grief-stricken in spirit, I, Tobit, groaned and wept aloud.Then with sobs I began to pray:
"You are righteous, O Lord,
and all your deeds are just;
All your ways are mercy and truth;
you are the judge of the world.
And now, O Lord, may you be mindful of me,
and look with favor upon me.
Punish me not for my sins,
nor for my inadvertent offenses,
nor for those of my ancestors.
"We sinned against you,
and disobeyed your commandments.
So you handed us over to plundering, exile, and death,
till you made us the talk and reproach of all the nations
among whom you had dispersed us.
"Yes, your judgments are many and true
in dealing with me as my sins
and those of my ancestors deserve.
For we have not kept your commandments,
nor have we trodden the paths of truth before you.
"So now, deal with me as you please,
and command my life breath to be taken from me,
that I may go from the face of the earth into dust.
It is better for me to die than to live,
because I have heard insulting calumnies,
and I am overwhelmed with grief.
"Lord, command me to be delivered from such anguish;
let me go to the everlasting abode;
Lord, refuse me not.
For it is better for me to die
than to endure so much misery in life,
and to hear these insults!"
On the same day, at Ecbatana in Media,
it so happened that Raguel's daughter Sarah
also had to listen to abuse,
from one of her father's maids.
For she had been married to seven husbands,
but the wicked demon Asmodeus killed them off
before they could have intercourse with her,
as it is prescribed for wives.
So the maid said to her:
"You are the one who strangles your husbands!
Look at you!
You have already been married seven times,
but you have had no joy with any one of your husbands.
Why do you beat us? Is it on account of your seven husbands,
Because they are dead?
May we never see a son or daughter of yours!"
The girl was deeply saddened that day,
and she went into an upper chamber of her house,
where she planned to hang herself.
But she reconsidered, saying to herself:
"No! People would level this insult against my father:
'You had only one beloved daughter,
but she hanged herself because of ill fortune!'
And thus would I cause my father in his old age
to go down to the nether world laden with sorrow.
It is far better for me not to hang myself,
but to beg the Lord to have me die,
so that I need no longer live to hear such insults."
At that time, then, she spread out her hands,
and facing the window, poured out her prayer:
"Blessed are you, O Lord, merciful God,
and blessed is your holy and honorable name.
Blessed are you in all your works for ever!"
At that very time,
the prayer of these two suppliants
was heard in the glorious presence of Almighty God.
So Raphael was sent to heal them both:
to remove the cataracts from Tobit's eyes,
so that he might again see God's sunlight;
and to marry Raguel's daughter Sarah to Tobit's son Tobiah,
and then drive the wicked demon Asmodeus from her.
Responsorial PsalmPS 25:2-3, 4-5AB, 6 AND 7BC, 8-9
R. (1) To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.In you I trust; let me not be put to shame,
let not my enemies exult over me.
No one who waits for you shall be put to shame;
those shall be put to shame who heedlessly break faith.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your kindness are from of old.
In your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
he teaches the humble his way.
R. To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.
AlleluiaJN 11:25A, 26
R. Alleluia, alleluia.I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord;
whoever believes in me will never die.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMK 12:18-27
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection,came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying,
"Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
If someone's brother dies, leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers.
The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants.
So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants,
and the third likewise.
And the seven left no descendants.
Last of all the woman also died.
At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?
For all seven had been married to her."
Jesus said to them, "Are you not misled
because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
When they rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but they are like the angels in heaven.
As for the dead being raised,
have you not read in the Book of Moses,
in the passage about the bush, how God told him,
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob?
He is not God of the dead but of the living.
You are greatly misled."
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A Foretaste of Heavenly Love
Tobit is a God-loving, wealthy Israelite who, with other captives, had been deported to Nineveh. After a series of misfortunes, he sends his son, Tobiah, to far-off Media to fetch money. Tobiah is met by a man who is really the archangel Raphael, the angel of healing.
Meanwhile, a young lady named Sarah has been crying to God. She has had seven husbands, all of whom were killed on their wedding night by a demon named Asmodeus. Raphael takes Tobiah to meet her. They fall in love, but she's afraid that if they marry, Asmodeus will kill him. With God's help, they defeat the demon and live happily ever after.
This story has lessons for all of us, married or not. I can't explain it sufficiently in this brief reflection, so please take time to read the whole Book of Tobit. Read it like a novel and keep an eye open to what it teaches about God's helpfulness.
I can personally attest as a long-time husband (married for 25 years!) that angels and prayers, along with a mutual willingness to do whatever it takes to reach happy endings, are essential for a marriage's survival.
In today's Gospel reading, Jesus takes the message of Tobit to its ultimate truth. Marriage is an earthly image of God and his faithfulness and his unconditional love. Marriage is a gospel that God writes to reveal himself to unbelievers. Every Christian couple should examine: What kind of image of God are we portraying to the world? Are we evangelizing those around us through the example of our relationship?
Jesus said that in heaven marriage does not exist. People live like the angels. We don't become angels; we live in love with everyone -- absolutely everyone -- like the angels do. Our supreme love for one another will supersede marital love. Of course my Ralph will always be special to me, but I will love you and everyone else as much as (in fact, more than) I love him now. My relationship with him is a hint of the love that I will have for everyone after I reach heaven. It's also a hint of how I will be loved by everyone.
Imagine dying and being greeted by the spouse you divorced or the baby you aborted or the friend you tossed aside. Will you be ready to give him or her a love that's greater than the strongest love you have experienced on earth? Don't worry; your distaste for loving everyone completely and unconditionally will be purged from you. Thank God for purgatory!
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God Bless You.....
The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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