June 5, 2015

Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr

Anna sat watching the road by which her son was to come.
When she saw him coming, she exclaimed to his father,
“Tobit, your son is coming, and the man who traveled with him!”

Raphael said to Tobiah before he reached his father:
“I am certain that his eyes will be opened.
Smear the fish gall on them.
This medicine will make the cataracts shrink and peel off from his eyes;
then your father will again be able to see the light of day.”

Then Anna ran up to her son, threw her arms around him,
and said to him,
“Now that I have seen you again, son, I am ready to die!”
And she sobbed aloud.

Tobit got up and stumbled out through the courtyard gate.
Tobiah went up to him with the fish gall in his hand,
and holding him firmly, blew into his eyes.
“Courage, father,” he said.
Next he smeared the medicine on his eyes, and it made them smart.
Then, beginning at the corners of Tobit’s eyes,
Tobiah used both hands to peel off the cataracts.

When Tobit saw his son, he threw his arms around him and wept.
He exclaimed, “I can see you, son, the light of my eyes!”
Then he said:

“Blessed be God,
and praised be his great name,
and blessed be all his holy angels.
May his holy name be praised
throughout all the ages,
Because it was he who scourged me,
and it is he who has had mercy on me.
Behold, I now see my son Tobiah!”

Then Tobit went back in, rejoicing and praising God with full voice
for everything that had happened.
Tobiah told his father that
the Lord God had granted him a successful journey;
that he had brought back the money;
and that he had married Raguel’s daughter Sarah,
who would arrive shortly,
for she was approaching the gate of Nineveh.

Tobit and Anna rejoiced
and went out to the gate of Nineveh
to meet their daughter-in-law.
When the people of Nineveh saw Tobit walking along briskly,
with no one leading him by the hand, they were amazed.
Before them all Tobit proclaimed
how God had mercifully restored sight to his eyes.
When Tobit reached Sarah, the wife of his son Tobiah,
he greeted her: “Welcome, my daughter!
Blessed be your God for bringing you to us, daughter!
Blessed is your father, and blessed is my son Tobiah,
and blessed are you, daughter!
Welcome to your home with blessing and joy.
Come in, daughter!”
That day there was joy for all the Jews who lived in Nineveh.

Responsorial Psalm PS 146:1b-2, 6c-7, 8-9a, 9bc-10

R. (1b) Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD, O my soul;
I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD gives sight to the blind.
The LORD raises up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the just.
The LORD protects strangers.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.
The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts
The LORD shall reign forever,
your God, O Zion, through all generations! Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!
or:
R. Alleluia.

Alleluia Jn 14:23

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him
and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Mk 12:35-37

As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said,
“How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David?
David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said:

The Lord said to my lord,
‘Sit at my right hand
until I place your enemies under your feet.’

David himself calls him ‘lord’;
so how is he his son?”
The great crowd heard this with delight.

From: Tobit 11:5-15

Tobias’ Return

[5] Now Anna sat looking intently down the road for her son. [6] And she caught
sight of him coming, and said to his father, “Behold, your son is coming, and so
is the man who went with him!”

[7] Raphael said, “I know, Tobias, that your father will open his eyes. [8] You
must therefore anoint his eyes with the gall; and when they smart he will rub
them, and will cause the white films to fall away, and he will see you.”

[9] Then Anna ran to meet them, and embraced her son, and said to him, “I have
seen you, my child; now I am ready to die.” And they both wept. [10] Tobit star-
ted toward the door, and stumbled. But his son ran to him [11] and took hold of
his father, and he sprinkled the gall upon his father’s eyes, saying, “Be of good
cheer, father.” [12] And when his eyes began to smart he rubbed them, [13] and
the white films scaled off from the corner of his eyes. [14] Then he saw his so
and embraced him, and he wept and said, “Blessed art thou, O God, and bles-
sed is thy name for ever, and blessed are all the holy angels. [15] For thou hast
afflicted me, but thou hast had mercy upon me; here I see my son Tobias!” And
his son went in rejoicing, and he reported to his father the great things that had
happened to him in Media.

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

11:1-14:15. This last part of the story takes us back to Nineveh. The author tells
about Tobias’ arrival home with Sarah and the angel, and how Tobit is cured of
his blindness (11:1-19). The angel has completed his mission (cf. 3:16-17) and
can now reveal who he is, and go back to God (12:1-22). Tobit praises God in a
long prayer of rejoicing (13:1-18), and, in due course, after giving his son his spi-
ritual testament, he dies (14:1-11). Having done all that piety demands in Nine-
veh, Tobias and Sarah move to Media to be with Sarah’s parents (14:12-15).

The story has a happy ending, befitting Tobit’s good works and the mercy of
God, who never neglects the righteous. There have been severe trials, but trust
in God has been rewarded by special intervention of divine providence through
the angel Raphael. This is the main message of the book of Tobias. True, not
all painful situations are resolved by angels in the same remarkable way as in
the story of Tobit. But we always have angels with us, and they will comfort us
if we put our trust in God. We can see this in the life of our Lord: during his pas-
sion, an angel of heaven comforted him in the garden of olives (cf. Lk 22:43); but
Jesus still had to drink the chalice of suffering and death in order to do his Father’s
will and bring about the redemption of mankind.

11:1-15a. The scene prior to the travellers’ entry into Nineveh (vv 1-8) is similar
to that described earlier, when Tobias and the angel were nearing Ecbatana (cf.
6:10-17), and it connects up with the passage about the start of the journey
through the mention of the dog (cf. 5:16). Once again the angels takes the ini-
tiative, by telling Tobit how to cure his father. Then (vv 9-15) everything happens
very quickly. Anna is cured of her spiritual blindness on seeing her son, and
Tobit of his physical blindness thanks to the angel’s wisdom and Tobias’ obe-
dience. Tobit launches into a spontaneous prayer, blessing God and all his
angels, still not knowing who Raphael is.

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Mark 12:35-37

Christ the Son and Lord of David

[35] And as Jesus taught in the temple, He said, “How can the scribes say that
the Christ is the son of David? [36] David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, de-
clared,
‘The Lord said to the Lord,
Sit at My right hand,
till I put Thy enemies under Thy feet’.
[37] David himself calls Him Lord; so how is He his son?” And the throng heard
Him gladly.

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

35-37. Jesus here bears witness, with His special authority, to the fact that
Scripture is divinely inspired, when He says that David was inspired by the Holy
Spirit when writing Psalm 110. We can see from here that Jews found it difficult
to interpret the beginning of the Psalm. Jesus shows the messianic sense of the
words “The Lord said to my Lord”: the second “Lord” is the Messiah, with whom
Jesus implicitly identifies Himself. The mysteriously transcendental character of
the Messiah is indicated by the paradox of His being the son, the descendant,
of David, and yet David calls Him his Lord. Cf. note on Matthew 22:41-46.

[Note on Matthew 22:41-46 states:

41-46. God promised King David that one of his descendants would reign forever
(2 Samuel 7:12ff); this was obviously a reference to the Messiah, and was inter-
preted as such by all Jewish tradition, which gave the Messiah the title of “Son
of David”. In Jesus’ time this messianic title was understood in a very nationalis-
tic sense: the Jews were expecting an earthly king, a descendant of David, who
would free them from Roman rule. In this passage Jesus shows the Pharisees
that the Messiah has a higher origin: He is not only “Son of David”; His nature
is more exalted than that, for He is the Son of God and transcends the purely
earthly level. The reference to Psalm 110:1 which Jesus uses in His argument
explains that the Messiah is God: which is why David calls Him Lord — and why
He is seated at the right hand of God, His equal in power, majesty and glory (cf.
Acts of the Apostles 33-36; 1 Corinthians 6:25).]

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading

Tobit 11:5-17 ©

Anna was sitting, watching the road by which her son would come. She was sure at once it must be he and said to the father, ‘Here comes your son, with his companion.’

Raphael said to Tobias before he reached his father, ‘I give you my word that your father’s eyes will open. You must put the fish’s gall to his eyes; the medicine will smart and will draw a filmy white skin off his eyes. And your father will be able to see and look on the light.’

The mother ran forward and threw her arms round her son’s neck. ‘Now I can die,’ she said ‘I have seen you again.’ And she wept. Tobit rose to his feet and stumbled across the courtyard through the door. Tobias came on towards him (he had the fish’s gall in his hand). He blew into his eyes and said, steadying him, ‘Take courage, father!’ With this he applied the medicine, left it there a while, then with both hands peeled away a filmy skin from the corners of his eyes. Then his father fell on his neck and wept. He exclaimed, ‘I can see, my son, the light of my eyes!’ And he said:

‘Blessed be God!

Blessed be his great name!

Blessed be all his holy angels!

Blessed be his great name for evermore!

For he had scourged me

and now has had pity on me

and I see my son Tobias.’

Tobias went into the house, and with a loud voice joyfully blessed God. Then he told his father everything: how his journey had been successful and he had brought the silver back; how he had married Sarah, the daughter of Raguel; how she was following him now, close behind, and could not be far from the gates of Nineveh.

Tobit set off to the gates of Nineveh to meet his daughter-in-law, giving joyful praise to God as he went. When the people of Nineveh saw him walking without a guide and stepping forward as briskly as of old, they were astonished. Tobit described to them how God had taken pity on him and had opened his eyes. Then Tobit met Sarah, the bride of his son Tobias, and blessed her in these words, ‘Welcome, daughter! Blessed be your God for sending you to us, my daughter. Blessings on your father, blessings on my son Tobias, blessings on yourself, my daughter. Welcome now to your own house in joyfulness and in blessedness. Come in, my daughter.’ He held a feast that day for all the Jews of Nineveh.

Psalm

Psalm 145:2,7-10 ©