Sacred Calendar

Fourth Lesson - Prayer Rises and Mercy Descends

The Lesson is taken from the Sermons of St Austin, Bishop [of Hippo.] Blessed Tobit, who knew how to break his bread to the hungry, maketh ready a swift recompense for him, who toiled for him for hire. We have listened patiently to the reading, which is just over, and we have marvelled at the discourse of the father and son, and now they are admonished by the Angel, whom they had deemed a dweller of earth; but whose service was the service of the Divine Glory. For it was to this end that he was suffered to fall into the affliction of blindness, even that he might have an Angel to his physician, who was kindled with the very light of God, and uttered the words, "Prayer is good with fasting and almsgiving." The prayer of the just is the key of heaven; the supplication goeth up, and the mercy of God cometh down. Though the earth be deep, and the heavens high, yet God heareth the voice of him who hath a good conscience. If it be a groan only, it is articulate enough for Him; a tear is sufficient for His eyes; He heareth weeping sooner than words. The prayer of the presumptuous He is wont to reject. The father and the son were of one mind; albeit twain, they had but one thought. "My son," saith he, "let us send away that man with an addition to his wages such as he pleaseth, for he hath done us great good by his work." And they began to ask him if he would take payment of his wages. "Brother," saith he, "take that is thine, and go thy way safely; take thy wages, for thou hast shown much kindness unto me, and unto my son. Take, as I said, half of the substance that thou and my son have brought unto me, for the thanks that we owe thee cannot be measured."

Fifth Lesson - Mercy Freely Given by the Heavenly Father

The Angel, who had been sent to work mercy for nothing, rejoiceth at the thought of wages. "Tobit, or Tobias," saith he, "why take needless thought to pay me? Keep what your heavenly Father hath given you. He is the fountain of health, and I am His minister to heal. Ye know not who is the hireling whose services ye have earned. Ye feared not to bury the dead of the captivity. O Tobit, thy works are gone up before the Lord, inasmuch as thou didst leave thy dinner to give burial to the dead. It was I who offered up before the Lord as a fat sacrifice thy care for their honourable burial; and it is I that have been sent forth to do the commands of the Heavenly Judge. Thou didst bury the dead, without fear for the sting of death; the very voiceless dead, whom thou didst bury, cried aloud for thee. The blindness of thine eyes was a trial, whereby thy patience should earn a brighter crown from the heavenly places. I am Raphael, one of the seven Angels, who stand in the presence of the glory of God; I have no need of wages from man; I am rich enough, in that I am near to the Majesty on high. He That hath sent me is rich. What He hath granted freely, He hath commanded me to grant freely. Neither do ye owe me any thanks, for ye have received nothing from me of my own strength. Bless God, and give praise to Him, and glorify Him, for He hath shown good upon you."

Sixth Lesson - Angelic Help Ordered to God

When the glory of the heavenly mystery was made known by the voice of the Archangel Raphael, Tobit and Tobias were thunderstruck, and fell upon the ground, their weak voices utterly silenced at the hearing of that strange voice. Why are ye afraid, O father Tobit, and son Tobias? is it because ye have taken one of the dwellers of heaven into your pay, and hired him as though he were one of the labourers of earth? The Angel hid his name from you; he said not, I am the Angel Raphael, but, I am Azarias, the son of Ananias the Great. In the first name that he gave thee he hid his high estate, lest he should scare him that hired him. For if he had said, I am an Angel, he would not have become the paid servant of Tobias. He kept back his noble name that the greatness of his nobility might shine out at the last. Behold, dearly beloved brethren, how great is the merit of almsgiving. Almsgiving hath earned an Angel for a servant, until he accomplished, as a hireling, his day. Ye behold of how great profit it is to bury the dead, even an oblation which the Angel Raphael maketh to ascend up before the heavenly Majesty. Ye behold how that alms deliver from death, and purge away sins, and open the eyes, and force from thee the darkness of sin. Tobias is led on his journey, and Sara, sorrowfully bereaved of so many husbands, is joined in wedlock by an Angel.