Biblical Examples To Imitate

Saturday of the 9th Week in Course 2023

The story of the journey of Tobias, narrated in the deuterocanonical book of Tobit, is one of the most inspirational from the OT period. It reads like an adventure novel, with a diabolical adversary, a heavenly helper named Raphael, two innocent teens miraculously brought together, and a happy ending. It’s that ending that we hear about today, when God’s power heals the blind Tobit, who immediately thinks, like he did before he was blinded, of everybody else’s needs. The angel gives some excellent advice, rather like a short version of Proverbs. More than anything else, it is a book recommending prayer, and reminding us that no prayer goes unheard, no petition goes unanswered, even if the immediate answer is “wait and see.”

Raphael tells the family: “It is good to praise God and to exalt his name, worthily declaring the works of God. Do not be slow to give him thanks.” These words remind us of Psalm 103:”Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits—who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,” This is the story of Tobit, and of so many of us, in a few words.

Tobit, before his blindness, was a rich and generous man. He knew that God had commanded him to care for widows and orphans and others of their community in need. He buried the dead even though the pagan rulers had forbidden that pious act. Jesus, after warning his disciples not to imitate the scribes, who made a big deal of their learning and piety but also plotted to take the little wealth of the poorest people, singles out one of the poor for imitation. The poor woman, a widow and so someone without wealth or income, came to the Temple treasury. Of her nothing, she gave two little leptas, tiny copper coins worth together about one cent. Jesus knew all about widows–His own mother was one. He looked into the hearts of the most generous Temple donors and saw less than He did in that one widow. She, like Jesus and Mary, was poor in spirit, not just in finances.

Let’s learn, then, from the examples of faith and free will giving that we see proclaimed to us today. We are all sinners, certainly, but by imitation of these examples, we can become saints.